TV experiment proves how to reduce pollution
IT is one of Birmingham’s busiest high streets – and a daily bottleneck for commuters. Kings Heath High Street is also a pain for people living in the area, who suffer high pollution levels.
But, for one day only, something remarkable happened.
Tough new measures were brought in to restrict parking for a BBC2 TV experiment.
Local on-street parking was pended, easing traffic flow.
Trees in planters were placed in the road to stop cars parking and 200 free bus tickets were issued for the No.50 service.
Children at St Dunstan’s Catholic Primary School were also encouraged to ask their parents to walk them to school instead of driving.
The programme, titled Fighting For Air, which aired on Tuesday, showed that pollution can be reduced.
“I wanted an experiment where, on one big day, we could try to make a really noticeable difference to the air quality on the high street,” said presenter Dr Xand Van Tulleken. sus-
“If we could do that we could show Birmingham, the whole of the UK – and maybe even the whole of the world – that it is possible.”
The parking bay suspension ran from 8pm on Thursday, November 30, through to 11pm on Friday, December 1.
Six-foot tall Portuguese laurel trees in planters were dragged into the road to ensure the parking spaces could not be claimed.
And at the end of the day, pollution levels were measured to see if there was any difference.
Although the volume of traffic did not drop on the day, scientists recorded a significant reduction in nitrogen oxides, some of the main toxins in pollution, along with tiny soot particles known as particulate matter. One of the biggest reductions in pollution was on the road outside St Dunstan’s School where there was less queuing traffic.
The programme concluded that a ten per cent reduction of air pollution would result in more than 500 schools across the UK falling below the legal pollution limits.
A 20 per cent reduction in air pollution would see more than 750 schools becoming compliant.