Westminster, Tower Hamlets and Southwark have highest number of secondaries in breach of legal limits of NO2, new research for the mayor reveals

Children at nearly 90 secondary schools in London breathe illegal and dangerous levels of air pollution, a report for the mayor reveals.

Former mayor Boris Johnson was accused in May of burying a report that showed hundreds of primary schools were in areas that breached EU pollution limits in 2010, prompting calls for greater action to clean up the capital’s air.

But new research looking for the first time at which secondary schools in the capital are exposed to illegal levels of the toxic gas, nitrogen dioxide (NO2), has found Westminster, Tower Hamlets and Southwark are the boroughs with the highest number of secondaries in breach of the limits.

Islington, Hammersmith and Fulham, and Lambeth had at least half a dozen or more secondary schools where pupils breathe air that breaches the limits. In total, 86 of the 100 secondary schools exposed to the highest NO2 levels in 2013 were above the annual mean limit of 40ug/m3 NO2.



Most outer London boroughs had no secondary schools in areas that breached the threshold.



Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, said: “These figures are of great concern and show why it is absolutely right we act now on London’s polluted air. It is simply not acceptable that young Londoners – our children, grandchildren, family, neighbours and friends – are being exposed to dangerously polluted air and putting them at greater risk of respiratory and other conditions.”



The report by the environmental consultancy Aether for the mayor also shows that the number of primary schools breaching EU levels had fallen from 433 in 2010 to 357 in 2013. Southwark had the highest number above the limits, at 45, followed by Westminster with 40 and Tower Hamlets with 37.

Khan’s first big policy announcement on taking office was to pledge to enlarge and bring forward the introduction of an ‘ultra low emissions zone’ in London. He is expected to make a major speech setting out the case for the measures next week.

