Agenda and minutes

An apology for absence was received from Councillor Wesley Harcourt (Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Ecology).

If a Councillor has a disclosable pecuniary interest in a particular item, whether or not it is entered in the Authority’s register of interests, or any other significant interest which they consider should be declared in the public interest, they should declare the existence and, unless it is a sensitive interest as defined in the Member Code of Conduct, the nature of the interest at the commencement of the consideration of that item or as soon as it becomes apparent.

Where Members of the public are not allowed to be in attendance and speak, then the Councillor with a disclosable pecuniary interest should withdraw from the meeting whilst the matter is under consideration. Councillors who have declared other significant interests should also withdraw from the meeting if they consider their continued participation in the matter would not be reasonable in the circumstances and may give rise to a perception of a conflict of interest.

Councillors are not obliged to withdraw from the meeting where a dispensation to that effect has been obtained from the Standards Committee.

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting and note any outstanding actions.

RESOLVED

The minutes of the meeting held on 31 January 2023 were agreed as an accurate record.

This report welcomes a presentation by Dr Gary Fuller of Imperial College London on the effects of wood burning on air quality.

At the invitation of the Chair, Dr Gary Fuller ((UKRI Clean Air Champion, Environmental Research Group, Imperial College London) briefed members on wood burning and air pollution, including health impacts of air pollution in the UK, the use of solid fuels on open fires to heat homes, the Kantar (2020) survey, impacts on indoor pollution, mapping new types of air pollution hotspots, transect walking winter 2022/23, use of open fires by Londoners, solutions: what’s been tried and what’s work, wood burning was not carbon neutral, reducing sources, and tackling air quality and climate change together.

Councillor Jose Afonso asked about the number of H&F households using wood burners and the source of fuel.  Dr Fuller advised that only London-wide data was available.

In reply to Councillor Afonso’s further question, Dr Fuller said that the introduction of ultra-low emissions zone (ULEZ) to Central London was highly successful and there was a reduction of nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) from vehicles near roads by more than 40%. It was estimated that following the expansion of ULEZ across inner London, near road NO₂ would be reduced by just over 20%. 

On Councillor Afonso’s concern about the correlation of air pollution in H&F with asthma, Dr Fuller referred to international studies on asthmatic and air pollution which  suggested that children were more susceptible to air pollution in the onset of asthma.  He undertook to provide the report on research done by his colleague with data on asthma cases across the London boroughs.

Dr Fuller further noted an on-going in-depth study on the indoor and outdoor air pollution exposure of 100 selected homes in White City which aimed to recruit families with asthmatic children. At this juncture, Caroline Kelly, a member of the public, disagreed that there was a correlation between air pollution and asthma because of the level of emissions was ever changing. Dr Fuller pointed out that it was hard for the related study to detect early-stage asthma as people usually endured the day-to-day suffering until it was sufficiently bad to seek medical advice. Hence, the underlying chronic health data was often missing in the studies.   The Chair considered it might be worthwhile to study the prevalence of asthma before and after the enactment of the Clean Air Act in 1956. She would also solicit the assistance of Councillor Ben Coleman, Chair of the Health and Wellbeing Board to identify suitable families for the exposure study.

Councillor Laura Janes asked about the enforcement of the Clean Air Act and the penalties, if any, imposed. Dr Fuller said as he understood, there were almost no fines for the last 10 years, except for a couple of cases taken up by Camden Council. He considered that effective policies might not necessarily involve enforcement which could be stressful and time-consuming. Communications and public engagement might be more effective and valuable and behavioural scientists played an important role in breaking down the barriers to changing people’s behaviour. Responding to Councillor Stala Antoniades’ enquiry,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

This report presents the Council’s role in “Climate Action Together”.

Mark Thomlinson (Climate Engagement and Behaviour Change Lead) briefed members on the Council’s role in “Climate Action Together”, including an overview of the emissions pattern in the borough, perceptions towards climate and trends on actions, enabling climate-friendly behaviours, inspiring community climate action and collaboration with business and alliance members through communicating, informing and listening to the under-represented voices.

The Chair was keen to note how to kick-start engagement in respect of wood burning, and whether data should be collected via a survey or through group analysis.  Geoff Cowart (Head of Communications) explained that in fixing a problem with residents, it was first necessary to understand the problem through the scientific data and devise solutions to address it. Communications should then hit the target residents who were burning solid fuel at homes which were identifiable through the house styles and the air quality in the neighbourhoods.  After obtaining the demographic profiles of the homeowners via the social platform Next Door, an effective educational and informative campaign about the danger of using solid fuel for wood burning could be created for the target audience.

Geoff Cowart referred to the Global Action Plan undertaken by the Mayor of London which noted through Next Door that the age group of 55 to 64 was most responsive to the wood burning campaigns already run in other boroughs. While it was always useful to obtain more data from extra studies, the profiles represented by this age group could be used as a starting point for the campaign in H&F.  He stressed the importance of the timing that the campaign should start around late summer/early autumn when people began considering the kind of fuel to buy.

Replying to Councillor Laura Janes’ enquiry about linking with neighbouring boroughs in tackling wood burning, Dr Gary Fuller, while sharing the difficulties in changing people’s behaviour, reiterated the need to change the narrative to “wood burning is not carbon neutral” and “it is not acceptable for your neighbours to equivalently moving six lorries up and down outside your home”.  Geoff Cowart remarked that as showed by the data, London had a problem associated with wood burning and the Mayor of London had started and led a campaign to reduce it.  He highlighted that those campaigns advocated through social media network usually worked well. With reference to the implementation of the Clean Air Neighbourhoods trial schemes and the collection of scientific data along the journey, the campaign did bring about behavioural changes and tangible effects cumulative over time.

Mark Thomlinson responded that the question raised by Councillor Ross Melton about measurable metrics involved many departments and bodies within and outside the Council, including transport, education, and TfL.  He advised that certain metrics would be available from the sustainability champions pilot such as the number of people recruited as volunteers and number of workshops held.  On measurable impacts reflecting the policy outcome such as the Clean Air Neighbourhoods, it was necessary to analyse the traffic data which could be an arduous task.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

To note the dates of future meetings:

·       18 July 2023

·       21 November 2023

·       6 February 2024

·       23 April 2024

The Committee noted the dates of future meetings:

·       18 July 2023

·       21 November 2023

·       6 February 2024

·       23 April 2024