Tim Catchpole made a further statement to the Inquiry about air quality today. This has been posted on the Inquiry website at https://gat04-live-1517c8a4486c41609369c68f30c8-aa81074.divio-media.org/filer_public/71/44/71444053-2881-4bf2-8985-6014a4bc2957/inq-31_tim_catchpole_-_stag_air_quality.pdf By way of further oral statement he said

Point 1: At the round-table discussion on Day 3 that I had recently attended a meeting where the Council’s Air Quality Team had presented their draft Action Plan for the next five years – and they had reported a significant improvement in air quality in recent years with only two sites still indicating NO2 levels in excess of the Government’s target, one of them being in our area. I was at first delighted to hear this. I know that the expansion of ULEZ has been a major factor and I commend the Council for accepting this expansion and also for enabling the provision of electric vehicle charging points throughout our borough. However…

Point 2: Following that round-table discussion, just to be certain, I had a look at the tables showing air quality readings from the eight NO2 diffusion tube sites in our area going back the last ten years and I noticed that annual average figures had been adjusted against the results emerging from the more elaborate and more accurate monitoring station on Castelnau in Barnes. However, whereas the adjusted level between 2014 and 2018 was minimally lower, that from 2019 to 2023 has been significantly lower and I asked myself why? It seems that the eight diffusion tube site results in our area have been lowered to accord with the lower results emanating from the monitoring station in Castlenau BUT Castelnau has carried very little traffic since closure of Hammersmith Bridge in 2019. So…

Point 3: I raised this matter with the Council’s Air Quality Team and they have said they are aware of this, hence they have been using analysers through a company called Gradco in order to derive a more sensible adjustment factor. Their analysers tell the same story – a significant improvement in air quality has occurred.

Point 4: My guess is that in certain areas of London the traffic levels and hence NO2 levels have indeed come down in recent years due to the expansion of ULEZ and the advent of electric vehicles but I am not so sure that this has happened on the South Circular Road which has the reputation of being the proven cause of death caused by air pollution. Here in East Sheen the traffic levels along the South Circular and its parallel Lower Richmond Road today have remained the same, if not increased because they carry the diversion of traffic from Hammersmith Bridge to Chiswick Bridge – and also because of the closure of the diversionary route through Richmond Park via Sheen Gate. Added to this is the proposal on the Brewery site for 1,075 apartments plus a mix of other uses plus a secondary school for 1,200 students plus a road widening within highway limits at Chalkers Corner, all of which will surely generate even more traffic and hence more NO2 – not to mention Particulate Matter.

The NO2 level on the South Circular in East Sheen near Sheen Lane is currently 56 μg/m3 and the adjusted reading is 48 μg/m3. This is still way above the UK Government target of 40 μg/m3. I am aware of the proposed mitigation on the Brewery site such as the EV charging points but I need to be convinced that the levels on the South Circular will actually one day reduce to below 40 μg/m3. At present I am not convinced and I say this on behalf of the Mortlake with East Sheen Society who also likewise need to be convinced.

Richmond Council undertook to provide a response.