King's have published a detailed analysis of air pollution trends in London over the last 10 years as a supplementary to TfL's latest Travel In London report.

The report looks at changing trends in the ‘roadside increment’ concentrations of PM2.5, PM10, NO2 and NOx across two time periods: 2005 to 2009 and 2010 to 2014. In total, 65 London air quality monitoring sites were included in the analysis, including three where black carbon and CO2 are monitored.

The study shows that between 2005 and 2009 the roadside increment of NOx and NO2 increased on average, and that PM10 decreased slightly.

Between 2010 and 2014 a more complex picture emerges. Overall, NOx and NO2 both decreased, however different sites saw different rates of change in the two pollutants with some even seeing increases in NOx where NO2 was decreasing.

The trends in PM10 and PM2.5 also proved interesting suggesting that the influence of non-exhaust PM is increasing as exhaust emissions have decreased.

Dr Gary Fuller, Monitoring Team Manager at King's said: "We drew upon techniques used by our epidemiological colleagues to look at London’s air pollution monitoring sites as a population for the first time. As well as summarising changes across the city as a whole, we also picked out places that have seen the biggest changes in pollution both up and downwards. Hopefully this will help us figure out what policies are working best.

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Item date 11/01/2016