Sticking to his guns, London Mayor defends his approach to pollution.

A recipe for sucess or cooking the books, is the London Mayors approach to pollution working.

Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London has had a spiffing wheeze or so reports his chums at the BBC.

Lorries are spraying a sticky solution on roads with a poor pollution record in the hope that the pollution in the air will stick to the road. Between midnight and six in the morning roads are swept and washed before a mixture of of calcium and water is applied. The tiny sooty pollution particles embed in the mixture and are no longer an airborne health hazard.

It is reported that the following areas receive this treatment

• Victoria Embankment / Upper Thames St
• Marylebone / Euston Road
• Park Lane
• Earls Court
• A2 Old Kent Rd, New Cross Rd and Blackheath Rd
• Blackwall tunnel corridor approaches
• Mercury Way, Lewisham

Sounds Good!

But not everyone is convinced this works while others question the scale and the use of these particular roads accusing Boris of trying to cook the environmental record books.

Professor Frank Kelly of King's College London is a recognised expert on the impact of atmospheric pollution on health. He feels this approach “does not deal with the problem at source”, because the moment spraying stops, problems re- emerge.

Green critics are saying this is a sop and is not designed reduce pollution per se but to avoid fines for failing to comply with EU air quality standards (earlier this year air pollution in London hit its highest level since 2003).

The Greens claim its no coincidence that the air monitoring station used to report to the European Commission is on one of the routes being sprayed reportedly saying."They are cheating, making it look as if targets are being met when they are not with the use of this road glue," and "Pollution is a problem all over London not just in a few streets."

However bicycling Boris Johnson agrees that while the source problem (lots of polluting cars) remains, this approach means the targeted pollutions cannot become a health issue as they can no longer be breathed in "And that means it is reducing pollution - unless you bend over get down on all fours and snort it" was a typically Boris rebuttal of this argument earlier in the year.

While the Greens may have their hearts in the right place with regards to a more universal solution, Cork Monkey is not sure that the argument about placement is sound. To the mind of a Cork Monkey it is logical that when one needs to do something and also check that it is working, you should do it near monitors that give you this information and the Cork Monkey pilot would also be in the worst pollution areas in order to do the most good, soonest.  There is no point in doing this in the middle of a leafy shire, with good air quality and no monitors to be honest. Bear in mind that the Greens are Boris’s political rivals to keep their arguments in perspective.

The truth is that London has too many trains planes and automobiles, too much construction, too many factories and too many people to also have clean air. You either deal with this human activity or deal the results of it. London is a good place to live work and do business and people keep coming. Boris has to deal with the results side of the equation and so will the Greens even when they start dismantling London to make it a pollution free zone (which if not part of a national strategy will harm the capital greatly).

But by and large all are working for the good of the people – and hopefully it is pollution that will come to a sticky end not London.

CM