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Press Release

PIONEERING PAVING TO TACKLE AIR POLLUTION

22 December 2005

A central London street is to be fitted with new pollution-absorbing pavement, in a bid to help improve the quality of air in the area.

Camden Council is the first local authority in the UK to try out the revolutionary paving, which has been shown to successfully cut local air pollution levels in European cities including Milan and Paris. The first section of pavement will be laid in Southampton Row (WC1) in the New Year, with work starting on site on 3 January 2005. The scheme will complement the council’s more traditional ways of reducing air pollution, such as decreasing traffic flow and vehicle emissions.

The paving stones, called ‘d-NOX’, look just like normal grey paving slabs but have a special top layer containing titanium dioxide (TiO2). This substance helps reduce pollution levels by acting as a catalyst in the presence of sunlight to break down the pollutant nitrogen dioxide gas (NO2) into nitrates. These are neutralised by the concrete and so removed from the air. NO2 is formed during high temperature combustion and in the UK comes mainly from road traffic exhausts, so pollution levels are highest in urban areas with heavy traffic.

Southampton Row was selected for the trial as around 30,000 vehicles drive down it each day, it falls within Camden Council’s ‘Clear Zone’ and it also needs re-paving. People that live or work near busy roads are at greatest risk from exposure to high levels of air pollution, with those with respiratory problems, young children or older people most vulnerable. The council has been monitoring levels of nitrogen dioxide on this road since February 2005 and will continue to track air pollution levels in the area during the trial to see how effective the paving is.

Cllr John Thane, Executive Member for Environment, Camden Council said,

“Camden Council is succeeding in cutting traffic flow and vehicle emissions and encouraging people to use cleaner, more efficient vehicles through our Green Transport Strategy, which we introduced in 1997. We’re now also leading the way by testing innovative technologies such as this pollution-absorbing paving to make the borough a cleaner and more pleasant place to live and work. If the scheme is successful we’ll install the paving stones in other areas of the Clear Zone.”

Total traffic flow in Camden has fallen by an average of 22 per cent since 1993/4 and emissions from road transport in the borough are bucking national trends by dropping, partly through the council’s local efforts to change people’s travel behaviour.



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Camden Council

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