The air quality on Putney High Street has improved this year – and it may be down to ULEZ working, according to independent monitoring carried out by The Putney Society.
Using a battery of seven monitoring stations on and around the High Street, the community organisation concludes that there has been a “definite improvement” in air quality when comparing the second half of 2023 to the same time period the year before – when testing started.
There was one month that was proved to be an exception however. In September last year, the average level of nitrogen dioxide reached almost that of the previous year; something that the society puts down to the closure of Wandsworth Bridge, causing even more traffic to come through Putney to get north of the river.
That aside, the results show that a “substantial reduction” in NO2 that is “genuine and encouraging” according to the society.
Which begs the question: what was behind the improvement? According to the authors of the study, Richard Carter and Mike Fawcett, the answer is simply: electric vehicles.
In June 2023 – one month before the improved pollution figures begin – Transport for London started shifting to electric buses, starting with the 93 route. There have been some issues with them – a fire at Putney bus garage in January being a notable one – but given the number of buses that use the High Street and its heavy congestion, a switch to electric has clearly shown its value in terms of lower air pollution.
There has also been a shift in the general public, with many people buying electric cars when they purchase a new one, rather than petrol-driven cars. That is part of an increasing trend but it is also part of London’s long-term plan to cut pollution by charging polluting vehicles a fee to enter central London – a scheme known as Ultra Low Emission Zones, or ULEZ.
ULEZ has proved controversial recently due to an expansion of the zone to outer London, with limited time or rebates for people to switch their vehicles to one that are less polluting, but there appears to be some evidence that the expansions (in October 2021 and August 2023) have done what they are intended to do: shift people into electric (or more modern) cars and so lower pollution levels.
It’s not all good news however. For one, the study notes that its monitoring equipment is designed to only monitor NO2 levels and not the form of air pollution that is most damaging – very small particles, or PM2.5.
That should soon be fixed by new monitoring stations that Wandsworth Council has said it will install on the High Street – although without a clear install date. Comparisons and improvements in the level of small particles will then have to wait a year due to seasonal variations in weather and behaviour.
The other bad bit of news is that even though there has been a substantial reduction in NO2 levels on Putney High Street, the pollution is still bad. In fact, it is persistently two to four times higher than the maximum level recommended by the World Health Organisation. In other words, it is healthier but still unhealthy on the High Street.
However, the trend toward more electric buses and cars appears to be unstoppable and so we should be able to enjoy slowly increasing air quality over time.
Now we just need to sort out the closure of Hammersmith Bridge and the longstanding congestion problems on Putney High Street…
You can read the full study on The Putney Society’s website.
