TRL was commissioned by the West London Alliance (WLA), seven boroughs in the West of London, to develop a strategy to tackle the increasing air quality problems in the area, in January 2004. The location of the West London boroughs (Brent, Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham, Harrow, Hillingdon, Hounslow and Richmond), with reference to Central London and Heathrow Airport, means that a considerable amount of traffic is attracted to the area from outside of the West London Alliance Boundary. This puts additional pressures on local roads and increases the problems of maintaining acceptable air quality in the Boroughs. The production of air quality exceedance maps confirms this, with many areas predicted to exceed UK air quality standards for both NO2 and PM10, potentially having a negative effect on quality of the local environment and human health. The WLA therefore commissioned TRL to undertake this challenging project, structured around three core themes: • The identification and remediation of air quality hotspots; • Encouraging the use of cleaner fuels and vehicles; and • The identification of public transport hubs and links. This paper focuses on the former, in particular, the literature review undertaken into potential mitigation measures to reduce emissions from motorised transport, and the subsequent development if a strategy focusing on the need to change travel behaviour in order to tackle West London’s air quality problems. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting