Air Pollution: Hounslow
(asked on 26th February 2019) - View Source
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the (1) number of deaths that can be attributed to poor air quality in the London Borough of Hounslow; and (2) impact of the proposed expansion of Heathrow airport on such numbers.
Air quality is a national health issue, which this Government takes very seriously. This is why the Government recently published the Clean Air Strategy, which includes new measures and funding to cut pollution and save lives.
Public Health England is responsible for collecting data to better understand public health challenges. This data is publically available via the Public Health Outcomes Framework for England portal,[1] which includes an indicator for air pollution expressed as the fraction of adult mortality attributable to long-term exposure to human-made particulate air pollution. The most recent published estimates available are for 2017. These show 6.4% for Hounslow, which is lower than the London average of 6.5%.
The estimates do not cite a specific cause of death of any individual, but reflect an equivalency which is used to assess the impacts of particulate air pollution contributing to death.
With regard to Heathrow expansion, the Airports National Policy Statement is clear that development consent would not be granted if the Secretary of State for Transport is not satisfied that the scheme would be compatible with legal obligations on air quality.
As part of the development consent process, an applicant is required to undertake a detailed assessment of the air quality effects of the scheme, including during construction, and to put forward to the Planning Inspectorate an appropriate package of mitigations where necessary to ensure compliance with air quality obligations. The applicant is also required to produce a detailed Health Impacts Assessment to set out the scheme’s impacts on public health, including from worse air quality.