How to improve air quality in your area:

• make sustainable and active travel choices. Walk or cycle where you can to reduce air pollution. You can take clean air walking routes across London, use one of Camden’s new cycle lanes and store a bike securely in a bike hangar near you
• don’t engine idle – it increases the amount of toxic air we breathe
• improve energy efficiency in your home, for example through upgrading your boiler or improving insulation. Find out about how to get advice and apply for grants
• Set up a Play Street on your road. A Play Street closes off a road to traffic for a few hours on a regular basis in order to provide children with a safe space to play freely.
• If you have to make a car journey, join a car club or use an electric vehicle. Camden has the largest network of car clubs, with a car within walking distance of all residents 24/7
• electric vehicles produce no air pollution emissions
• get free pollution warnings and health advice from airTEXT, a pollution forecasting service set up by Camden and a number of other London boroughs

Watch this video to find out how exposure to air pollution differs depending on whether you walk, cycle, drive or take the bus:

How to improve air quality near your local school: 

• Swap school journeys in the car for walking or cycling to reduce congestion and increase exercise. Take a look at Camden Cycling Skills for safe cycling training and find your clean air walking route
• Don’t engine idle outside school gates. Children are more vulnerable to the effects of air pollution and it can have a serious impact on their health.
• Encourage your school to develop a School Travel Plan, championing journeys to school by walking, scooting and cycling. Schools who do their School Travel Plans using the TfL STARS accreditation scheme are eligible to receive funding to support their travel plans
• encourage your school to support a Healthy School Street
• download free air quality lesson plans (PDF, 5.4 MB) for primary schools from London Sustainability Exchange. Check out the Camden Climate Change Alliance website for more environmental resources for schools

How to improve air quality at your workplace in Camden: 

• encourage staff to walk or cycle to work
• register as a cycle to work scheme provider and help your employees spread the cost of a new commuting bike through 12 monthly tax-free installments
• sign up to Camden Climate Change Alliance and join another 260 businesses improving their energy efficiency and reducing emissions
• bid for funding from the Camden Climate Fund to support energy efficiency improvements, such as heating an lighting updates and installation of solar panels 
• find out about internal air quality in your workplace from the World Health Organisation and their acceptable limit values for various pollutants
• contact your Trade Union if you need help to improve internal air quality at your place of work
• choose green energy suppliers and environmentally sustainable products

New Developments

Find out about air quality planning requirements for new developments in Camden