London Mayor seeks ‘Low Emission Neighbourhoods’

London boroughs are being invited by the Mayor to apply to a new funding support scheme aimed at finding innovative ways of tackling and raising awareness of air pollution hotpots

London boroughs are being invited by the Mayor to apply to a new funding support scheme aimed at finding innovative ways of tackling and raising awareness of air pollution hotpots.

London boroughs are invited to apply to a new Mayor-led scheme to become Low Emission Neighbourhoods

Borough councils in the capital are encouraged to put together ‘ambitious’ plans to tackle air pollution as part of their applications to become Low Emission Neighbourhoods, with up to two £1 million funding opportunities available.

The Mayor’s office, which launched the scheme on Friday (May 29, said the scheme was a “new way of tackling the air quality challenge in London”, with boroughs asked to develop a comprehensive set of solutions tackling various emissions sources as well as changing behaviour and raising awareness.

Measures set out in applications to the scheme could include: increasing walking and cycling; reducing through vehicle traffic; reducing the impact of freight and servicing; and using smarter parking charging.

The deadline for applications to the scheme is the end of July, with the first two Neighbourhoods expected to be up and running by June 2016.

The Mayor’s office said: “The measures introduced are expected to be visibly transformative, and could include significant redesign of roads and urban features. City Hall will be looking for ambitious and holistic approaches to tackling the issue of air quality.”

Air Quality Fund

The Low Emission Neighbourhoods scheme is being funded as part of the Mayor’s Air Quality Fund, which has committed £20 million to projects between 2012 and 2021.

Previously supported initiatives include pollution-capturing green walls and zero-emission electric car clubs, and the second round of the fund is offering up to £400,000 to boroughs for individual projects.

According to the Mayor’s office, the Air Quality Fund is a key part of promoting the growth of the clean tech industry, which “creates more jobs for Londoners”.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: “These innovations help reduce carbon and have boosted London’s green economy to almost £30 billion a year, with over 160,000 jobs.

“Today as part of my strong measures to boost the environment I’m encouraging London boroughs to get their green thinking caps on and apply for the next round of my £20 million Air Quality Fund. The previous round helped boroughs deliver vast ‘green walls’ to combat traffic pollution, created zero emission electric car clubs and implemented no idling schemes on our busiest streets. It’s clear that these measures, and the more of us that can adopt them, are helping make London the greenest, most sustainable megacity on earth.”