Air pollution to be monitored

LOCATIONS AROUND SOUTH FULHAM TO BE FITTED WITH TECHNOLOGY IN A BID TO TACKLE BIG ISSUE

DOZENS of locations in south Fulham will soon be monitored for air pollution.

Hammersmith & Fulham Council announced it has started installing 56 little white monitors on lamp posts.

They are part of the council’s wider plan to monitor and control traffic flows in Sands End, which has come under criticism from residents.

The majority will be dotted along the following roads:

■ Wandsworth Bridge Road

■ Carnwath Road

■ Peterborough Road

■ Broomhouse Lane

■ New King’s Road

■ Townmead Road

■ Imperial Road

■ Studdridge Street

■ Pearscroft Road

The monitors will pick up the contents of nitrogen dioxide, ozone and other solid particles in the air that can be toxic.

They will collect data at one-minute intervals, which will be published on the council’s website.

Councillor Wesley Harcourt, the cabinet member for the environment, said: “We are using 2020 tech solutions to tackle the decades-old problems of traffic congestion and air pollution.”

Meanwhile, the Sands End Traffic Reduction Scheme, which requires motorists to have a parking permit or temporary permission to drive in residential streets without receiving a fine, has been running since July.

The council said the area inside the scheme is receiving 170,000 fewer vehicle journeys a week, based on data from road traffic monitors.

However, residents from both within the area and surrounding neighbourhoods say the scheme is at least partly to blame for worsening congestion in Wandsworth Bridge Road The council argues that Wandsworth Bridge Road has been hit by the closure of lanes on the bridge itself due to maintenance work, as well as the closure of Hammersmith Bridge.

Wandsworth Council last week announced that all lanes of traffic on Wandsworth Bridge had reopened, after a long delay, although one lane of traffic will have to close again on an unconfirmed day in early December, while maintenance work continues.