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London's boroughs and businesses have been awarded £5.4 million by the Mayor to work on new measures to tackle air pollution.

The money will be used for a variety of projects including schemes to encourage the construction industry to clean up air quality, prompt Londoners to use low emission vehicles, and the planting of green walls or trees to trap pollution and improve our air quality.
 
The grants are the first to be awarded from a £20 million Air Quality Fund created by the Mayor earlier this year specifically to support local efforts in reducing air pollution at hotspots in the capital over the next 10 years.
 
Boroughs from all over London submitted bids in partnership with neighbouring authorities, businesses and health authorities with the intention of setting up projects aimed at encouraging local communities to get involved with helping improve air quality.

Any funding provided through the Mayor's Air Quality Fund is being match funded by the borough or partnership group.
 
The funds awarded today will support groups including:

• The Central sub- regional transport group of local authorities including City of London, Camden, Islington, Lambeth, Southwark, Wandsworth, Kensington & Chelsea, Hackney and Hammersmith & Fulham councils. They will work together to develop a better understanding of air quality issues within the business community, and to provide a toolkit that can be used by both consumers and suppliers of goods and services to improve air quality by changing the way they travel
• The Barts Health NHS Trust Cleaner Air Project, which includes City of London, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest councils will work together with surgeries and health care professionals to train staff and enable them to communicate key air quality messages to the residents they come into contact with. These advocates will be able to provide travel advice, promoting Air TEXT (see editors notes) and educating people to take action and minimise their exposure to pollution
• Camden, Islington, Lambeth, Lewisham, Wandsworth and Hammersmith and Fulham have joined forces to encourage the construction industry in their areas to adopt measures to improve air quality. They will also create a central hub for the exchange of best practice within the construction sector. That will result in a significant improvement in the quality as well as a more consistent and accurate approach to monitoring across sites, enabling a better assessment of current emissions
• Hillingdon and Hounslow councils have been allocated funding to design and implement area wide schemes to encourage the uptake of low and zero emission transport modes, such as walking, cycling and electric cars
• A number of the projects that are being supported will also deliver green infrastructure, such as a green walls, green screens or trees and shrub planting at schools and other locations across the capital to trap particulates and to improve air quality. 
   

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson said: 'This is all about helping local people to take forward projects that they know will help tackle the most polluted parts of their neighbourhoods.

'The more we work together to tackle air quality, the bigger the potential impact, and this funding will be used to make a real improvement.'

As part of applying for the funding, 26 boroughs have also signed up to become Cleaner Air Boroughs.

This involves boroughs working to meet six criteria, including reducing emissions from their own vehicle fleets, promoting air quality with their residents and integrating air quality into their new public health responsibilities.

The Mayor's team will work with these boroughs on delivering improvements at a local level and the first set of successful boroughs will be announced next year.
 
Ben Plowden, Director of Planning, Surface Transport at TfL said: 'We're pleased to be supporting London boroughs and partners with projects to improve air quality across the capital.

'We received some fantastic submissions and are pleased to see that the boroughs and local communities are enthusiastic and committed to delivering projects to reduce local pollution.

'These initiatives will help improve Londoners quality of life and support a more prosperous city.'

The Mayor has also asked TfL to look at introducing the world's first Ultra Low Emission Zone in central London from 2020, which he believes will deliver benefits in air quality and encourage the further development and mass take-up of zero and low emission vehicles.
 
In addition, the Mayor and TfL will also be introducing the following measures to reduce air pollution which includes:

• Extra hybrid buses - earlier this year the Mayor committed to deliver 600 new Bus for London vehicles, which alongside a new commitment to deliver another 600 conventional hybrid buses over the next three years would increase the number of hybrid buses in the capital to over 1,600 by 2016
• New Euro Standard 6 buses - the Mayor now proposes an £18m programme to retire the last 900 Euro 3 standard buses in London so that all of TfL's bus fleet will be of Euro 4 Standard or better for NOx emissions by the end of 2015
• Measures to clean up construction sites - these sites are responsible for around 12 per cent of London's NOx emissions and to tackle that the Mayor will introduce a new Low Emission Zone for construction machinery. The standards will be agreed with the construction industry and will be consulted on as part of new Supplementary Planning Guidance. The Mayor will also work with the Environment Agency to rollout the use of dust suppressants at industrial sites. At Horn Lane these reduced concentrations of PM10 emissions by up to 59 per cent

Notes to editors:

AirTEXT is a unique air quality information service for people who live or work in London and who suffer from asthma, emphysema, bronchitis, heart disease or angina. www.airtext.info/ 

• The Clean Air Fund report is available at: tfl.gov.uk/corporate/projectsandschemes/21103.aspx 
• Partnership bids have received more funding because some of the projects span more than one sub-region
• The Mayor's Air Quality Fund follows on from the successful Clean Air Fund programme implemented by TfL with funding from the Department for Transport (DfT) which used targeted short term measures to reduce local particulate matter (PM10) emissions and concentrations in the capital. The programme included:
  • The fitting of Diesel Particulate Filters (DPF) on 120 buses
  • A 'No Engine Idling' campaign to educate and raise awareness with drivers
  • The deployment of five taxi marshals at ten mainline stations
  • The installation of two 'green walls'
  • The trial Cleaning and Applications of Dust Suppressants (CADS)
  • A programme of engagement with over businesses and stakeholders