Ealing now has over 45 school streets in place in the borough. These are initiatives which aim to improve air quality by imposing driving restrictions on the streets immediately surrounding the school gates during pick up and drop off times. School streets do not mean that parents cannot drive children to school, but does mean that if they drive, they would have to stop and park a little further away. By discouraging parents from driving, and by making streets less busy at peak times, car related emissions is reduced.
Mums for Lungs and Ealing Transition have been instrumental in organising one of the school streets in Northfields. Rosa from Mums for Lungs explains how this came about and what the results of the school street have been.
By 2021, my son had been admitted to hospital 10 times, and had spent a total of 21 days in hospital for asthma related reasons. Similarly, that year in London alone, more than 3,600 children were admitted to hospital with asthma. So, I was quite motivated to find ways of raising people’s awareness around car pollution and the resulting poor air quality
At the end of 2020, we had moved house next to a primary school in West London. There was a lot of cut-through traffic on the street, as well as school traffic and idling cars. The idea of a school street to address the issue locally seemed particularly urgent.
Initially, the school and the council expressed interest in a school street. However, both parties had limited resources and different expectations as to what the other would need to do to make it a school street a reality. Expectations didn’t always match, and the conditions weren’t yet right to get a school street in place.
In 2022, I joined Mums for Lungs and began to speak to like-minded parents in the neighbourhood. We applied for funding from Possible to run a pop-up parklet on car free day in September 2022, and were successful!
The pop-up parklet event was very popular, and galvanised parents and teachers into supporting the idea – at least in principle. A big advantage was that the parklet took some of the street back for use by the people living there to enjoy. This meant we were able to communicate the purpose of the event, as well as what we were hoping to achieve in the long run.
The pop-up parklet also meant that we met up with Nick from Ealing Transition. Nick also had children at a nearby primary school and he was also interested in school streets and air quality. Together, we applied for an air quality node from Breathe London in November 2022 and were accepted. The node would give real time data on PM2.5 and NOx readings for the street and so would allow us to monitor how the air quality on the street might be affecting our children’s developing lungs.
2023 was a busy year! Mums for Lungs provided a response to Ealing Council’s Air Quality Action Plan, requesting the council for increased funding for council’s school street team. The Breathe London air quality sensor was installed on a post outside the school, after some initial difficult finding a suitable site, and was collecting data straight away. Our school also engaged with the TfL STARs programme (a requirement for having a school street), having been encouraged by meetings in which we highlighted the data from the node and the commitment from supportive parents.
At the end of 2023, we held a first play street on the road outside of the school, using the data from the node to highlight issues with air quality and the impact of traffic on the school. We also ran out first “bike bus” – a way of corralling children to school via a collective supervised bicycle commute – and shared the air quality data with the council. The air quality data from the node has also shown that like much of London the air quality in the street exceeds the recommendations from the World Health Organisation.
In 2024, Ealing council confirmed that the school would now be considered for a school street. However, a change in personnel at the school meant that we lost a little initiative, and at the end of 2024, the school street was still not in place. We were able to hold a second school play street in September of 2024. This was on a larger scale than before, as we were granted funding from the Breathe London Community Partners (BLCP) Mini Grants Pot and Parents for Future, and used this to hold a BMX workshop – a wonderful way to engage children of wider age groups!
The school street finally started in September 2025, and has already been a great success! At certain points in the process, there had been some push back from residents, but overall most parents and residents found the school street exciting and a very positive development. Some of the positive feedback is listed below.
“The school street has made such a difference at our school, dropping off and picking up is calm and pollution free and traffic free. Absolutely love it !”
“We love the freedom the children have with a school street. It’s safer, more fun and we are delighted that the air quality has improved in just a short time period. More school streets pls!! 😊 “
“Our family are noticing the all round improvements to wellbeing that the school street has been having on our school community. Evidence of the cleaner air is welcome news to me as a parent of an asthmatic child”.
“The school street has really helped and improved our commute to and from school by bike/scooter. The children feel safer and happier. So pleased to hear the air quality has improved outside our primary school. Every school should have a school street not only does it benefit our environment, the health of our children but also their wellbeing”
“My family absolutely loves the school street. It’s a much calmer start to the day, and makes such a difference of rainy days. It feels so much safer, and easier to breathe.”
“The School Street has made a noticeable difference to the local environment. Even though it only operates for a short period each day, reducing traffic at key times has helped improve air quality and made the area feel safer and calmer for children and families“.
Data
The school street is only in effect for two hours a day between Monday and Friday. Despite this small window of opportunity, we have already seen a very positive effect on air quality.
Before the school street was in place, our Breathe air quality node measured, between September and February, an average level of 31.7 ug/m3 of No2. This is around 54% higher than the London air quality background of 20.6 ug/m3.
After the school street had been put in place, the sensor location measured 26.2 ug/m3, which is only 48% higher than the background of 17.7 ug/m3 over the same period. In other words a drop of 6% over the period as a consequence of the two hours driving restriction.
As well as reducing the actual amount of pollutants in the area, over the same period the school street also reduced the variability (standard deviation) in the readings from 5 to 4.3, suggesting less pollution peaks from passing traffic.
Lessons Learned and next steps
Six months after the installation of the school street and four years after the initial pop-up parklet, it is wonderful to look back and see how we got here.
It took a long time to get the school street installed, but there was a lot of camaraderie involved in the process, as well as a sense of getting things done, and fun to be had in reminding people that of the opportunities to “play-out” on residential streets, as long as safety is observed.
Engaging with everyone and making sure that we brought people along was also important. Our core team of 5 people always was careful to develop support from as many parents as possible, as well as local organisations like Ealing Fields Residents Association, Ealing Transition, Breathe London, Parents for Future, and Mums for Lungs. The result has been a distinct improvement in the local air quality and space.
Rosa from Mums for Lungs and Nick from Ealing Transition
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