In their consultation document they state:
Unfortunately this site, amidst various waste processing facilities, with heavy skip lorry traffic, has long been notorious as one of London's worst pollution blackspots. LINK Monitoring has become less effective through the use of pollution suppressors by Boris Johnson as Barry Gardiner tweeted back in April 2012:We are currently discussing possible sites for Gladstone School with Brent Local Authority and the Education Funding Agency. Site options are necessarily subject to commercial sensitivity, although site options currently being considered anticipate siting the school within a 500 metre radius of Neasden Underground station on Brownfield sites with existing buildings, and do not include any greenfield or open land.
"Boris's pollution suppressors near air quality monitors is like putting breathing apparatus on the canary in the mines!"
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| Neasden Lane: Photo: Veleospeed.co.uk |
In September 2013 Boris Johnson gave the following written response LINK to a question from Stephen Knight abhout Neasden Lane:
The Neasden Lane monitoring station is classified as an industrial site and the main local sources are regulated by either the Environment Agency or the London Borough of Brent.Although meant to be reassuring this hardly paints a picture of a healthy environment for school children.
Significant progress has been made this year with all the Environment Agency regulated waste sites now being fully enclosed. The metal recycling site is now partially enclosed to screen the site more effectively. This has reduced the fugitive particle pollution from the sites.
Dust suppressants, which were shown by King’s College London evaluation report to be highly effective at sites like Neasden Lane, continue to be applied. The Environment Agency has also worked with operators to implement a particulate alarm system which informs operators if particulates on site exceed agreed levels. They then must take action such as ceasing operations and ensure site activities are not contributing to exceedences.
The Environment Agency have increased inspection frequency to fortnightly compared with approximately quarterly. Many of these visits are conducted jointly with the London Borough of Brent to improve coordination of enforcement activity. This approach has identified new opportunities to reduce emissions from the concrete batching plant regulated by the London Borough of Brent.