The 2011 LAQN seminar will take place on 1st July 2011 at King’s.

Sessions will focus on PM10 sources and toxicity and on NO2 concentrations and health effects. This year we are very pleased to welcome three speakers from overseas who will place UK air pollution in a broader European perspective.

The sessions will be chaired by Simon Cousins from the GLA and Tim Williamson from Defra. In addition to the programme of speakers, the Health Protection Agency will be running a workshop on mortality effects of PM2.5 at the local level.

The seminar is free to our funding organisations, project partners, researchers and collaborators. Representatives of other organisations are welcome to attend at a charge of £85 +VAT per person.

The full agenda.
If you wish to attend please contact Valentina Lotti (valentina.lotti@kcl.ac.uk)

On the 8th of June, ERG director Prof Frank Kelly gave evidence to the Commons Environmental Audit Committee.

The committee has launched a new inquiry into air quality in the UK to assess progress since the Committee’s previous report in March 2010. In particular, the Committee wished to investigate whether the Government is developing an effective strategy for meeting its obligations under the EU Air Quality Directives for PM10 and NO2.

Evidence was taken from James Grugeon (Healthy Air Campaign), Ed Dearnley (Environmental Protection UK), Frank Kelly (Imperial College London) and Councillor Richard Kemp (Vice Chairman, Local Government Group).

Full audio of the session
Full transcript of the session

The Greater London Authority recently commissioned Air Quality Consultants to undertake a strategic review of London’s air quality monitoring network, a key proposal in the Mayor’s Air Quality Strategy

This is the first time such a review has been undertaken and the results provide an important benchmark in the development of London’s monitoring network.

The review set out to define the current and future roles of the network and to identify key sites and any gaps in monitoring coverage in the network.

The main findings of the report were:

• The LAQN is used by many different organisations in a variety of ways and whilst it provides an important strategic resource for local and central government, it is funded and organised almost entirely by the participation of the individual London boroughs.
• The majority of sites in the network were identified as Category A (critical to the network) with a significant number classified as Category B (plays an important role) and a small number as Category C (a limited role)
• The network has generally good coverage for the measurement of the main pollutants but a number of locations where additional monitoring would be beneficial have been identified.

This is the first time such a review has been undertaken and the results provide an important benchmark in the development of London’s monitoring network.

Read the full report.

DEFRA have released an updated plan which sets out a list of proposals to help the UK meet the annual and hourly EU limit value for nitrogen dioxide "as soon as possible".

The proposals, which DEFRA are currently consulting on recognise that achieving EU limit values for NO2 at roadside locations in London and other major cities is "very challenging".

The plans comprise an overview document summarising the policy background and planned national measures to tackle NO2 as well as a cost/benefit analysis of the proposed measures and a technical report which details the modelling and assessment methods used to assess the effectiveness of each measure.

The UK is currently facing legal action from the EU for failing to meet 2010 NO2 targets and Defra hope that these updated plans will form part of the UK’s application for a 5 year extension to be submitted in September.

The letter to consultees, the overview document and the list of national measures can be found here.

A selection of air quality stories from around the web this month:

- Pollutionwatch June 2011 Dr Gary Fuller's monthly Pollutionwatch series for the Guardian

- UK cities may ban traffic to meet NO2 targets
- Glasgow's AQ concerns ahead of commonwealth games
- Reducing black carbon emissions benefits air quality and climate change
- The BBC reports on UK's failure to meet NO2 targets and possible impact on Olympics
- China's environmental report card
- European environment agency publishes report on ozone exceedences for 2010
- The Mayor's environment committee recommends he go beyond EU standards
- Legal challenge to maximum taxi age in London continues

And Finally:
- A clean air flash mob demo in Hong Kong
- PM10 found in ancient Egyptian mummies...no, seriously