The Vice-President of the European Commission and Commissioner responsible for transport, Simm Kallas, and his cabinet team visited the College’s field laboratory station on Marylebone Road on 14th April. The research monitoring at the Marylebone Road station has recently been enhanced as part of Defra monitoring programmes and the NERC funded ClearfLo project. It is one of Europe’s most sophisticated facilities for the measurement of urban air pollution.

The Commissioner met Dr Gary Fuller and Dr David Green from King’s who explained the purpose of the monitoring site and discussed observed changes in concentrations over recent years and their relationship to traffic emission abatement strategies. The visit was part of a day-long briefing on London’s transport strategy where the Commissioner met with London Mayor Boris Johnson and officials from Transport for London.

Gary Fuller from the Environmental Research Group said, "During the Commissioner’s to visit our field laboratory, he was able to see firsthand the way in which we can track air pollution changes from transport policies. Although air pollution is an Environment function within the EU, it is accepted that road transport is a major source of urban air pollution".

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Item date 15/04/2011