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Bowes Primary and air pollution: a thread 
With a primary school situated on Bowes Road, A406 North Circular, which is one of the boundary A-roads of our LTN, we've kept a watchful eye on the Bowes pollution monitor. Here's what we found. /1
With a primary school situated on Bowes Road, A406 North Circular, which is one of the boundary A-roads of our LTN, we've kept a watchful eye on the Bowes pollution monitor. Here's what we found. /1
These are the monthly averages of NO2 from August-December 2020 compared to previous years.
There are three things worth noting, let's start with the first two:
1. Every year pollution gets worse in winter. This is a normal seasonal trend.
2. Pollution after the LTN was introduced (12 Sept) was less than usual. /2
1. Every year pollution gets worse in winter. This is a normal seasonal trend.
2. Pollution after the LTN was introduced (12 Sept) was less than usual. /2
However, in November something unusual happened: on the first Wednesday (4/11), tens of thousands of people got into their cars to flee London before a second national lockdown, announced four days before, came into force. /3
The result: carnage on London roads everywhere... /4 https://metro.co.uk/2020/11/04/london-gridlocked-with-1200-miles-of-traffic-jams-as-thousands-flee-ahead-of-lockdown-13539262/
Which leads to our last observation:
3. This terrible traffic caused a large spike in pollution levels, which also increased the monthly average for November. This is visible when looking at the data in more detail. Here are weekly averages of the same period: /5
3. This terrible traffic caused a large spike in pollution levels, which also increased the monthly average for November. This is visible when looking at the data in more detail. Here are weekly averages of the same period: /5
The subsequent week pollution levels went back to pre-lockdown levels, which shows the spike cannot be attributed to the LTN. /6
Conclusion: There is no evidence in the data for a detrimental effect of the LTN on pollution levels.
However, with the LTN only implemented four and half months ago, we think it's important to continue to carefully monitor this data. /7
However, with the LTN only implemented four and half months ago, we think it's important to continue to carefully monitor this data. /7
Plots are our own, we used data from: http://www.londonair.org.uk/london/asp/publicdetails.asp?region=7&site=EN5&postcode=&details=location&mapview=NO2&network=other&MapType=Static /8
