Health alert over Saharan smog as London is hit by dirty cocktail of pollutants

 
Pollution: the City of London is seen shrouded by smog today

One of London’s worst smogs of recent years was forecast to peak today as Boris Johnson faced criticism for “prioritising cars over public transport.”

Air pollution was forecast to reach “high” levels of up to 8 out of ten this afternoon with a “soup” of Saharan dust, car fumes and European industrial emissions covering the capital.

Asthma sufferers and other people with heart of lung problems were warned not to take exercise outdoors, threatening the London Marathon preparations for some runners.

In pictures: London smog 2014

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However, the dirtiest air was expected to slip to the east of London affecting East Anglia and the East Midlands. The highest readings in London this morning tended to be to the north and east of the capital, including in Thurrock and Enfield.

Labour said the Mayor had not taken the problem seriously enough with his Ultra Low Emission Zone not due to be introduced until four years after he has left City Hall in 2016.

They said he had also got his priorities wrong by introducing the new fleet of Boris Buses rather than “retrofitting” the rest of the fleet to make them less polluting.

Murad Qureshi, London Assembly Labour Group Environment spokesperson, said: “This latest smog episode should act as a wake up call to our Mayor, whilst sand blown in from the Sahara is a contributing factor, the fact is Boris has not taken decisive action to tackle local air pollution.

But Matthew Pencharz, the Mayor’s senior adviser on Environment and Energy ruled out emergency measures such as those taken in Paris to limit the number of cars on the road.

He said: “The Mayor takes London’s air quality extremely seriously and has implemented ambitious daily pollution tackling measures so that the capital does not need to use emergency car restrictions.

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“We looked into similar schemes and we found these measures don’t work in the long term and can have the unintended consequence of moving problem pollution from one area to another.

“Instead, the Mayor has committed millions of pounds to delivering pioneering initiatives, including proposing a new Ultra Low Emission Zone and creating Europe’s largest fleet of hybrid buses to improve air quality. Nevertheless the Mayor recognises more needs to be done and is constantly looking at new ways to boost air quality and create a cleaner, greener environment.”

Green party London Assembly member Jenny Jones said: “The Mayor is telling the vulnerable to avoid outdoors exercise, but does virtually nothing about the cars and lorries that cause the pollution. The Mayor stripped out the type of emergency measures that could have restricted traffic during periods of smog from his air quality strategy. These could include restriction on the worst polluting vehicles and on non-essential vehicle journeys”

“Rather than solving the problem the Mayor seems intent on making the problems worse, backing new road building schemes and increased airport capacity. We need firm action to deliver cleaner vehicles as well as reduce the overall level of traffic on our roads.”

The London Green Party has also launched a #smogselfie campaign and are asking people to write messages to the Mayor of London in the dust.

Matt Hawkins, member of the Green Party, said: "We are calling on members, supporters and anyone who cares about air pollution to use the dust that is around
London' s roads and send a message calling for action on air pollution.

"It is obviously bad for cyclists and particularly bad for the development of children’s lungs. There is a lot of research that has been done about how undeveloped children’s lungs are in London compared to the rest of the country."

The pollution is expected to start clearing tomorrow when winds change direction and bring in frsher air from the Atlantic.

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