Air Quality Action Plan 2026-2030

Closes 26 Sep 2025

Opened 8 Jul 2025

Contact

landwaterair@hackney.gov.uk

Overview

The entirety of Hackney is an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA). An AQMA can be declared when levels of air pollution exceed certain legal limits, known as air quality standards and objectives. When an AQMA is declared, local authorities are required to produce an Air Quality Action Plan (AQAP).

The AQAP outlines all the steps we will take to improve air quality in the borough and make the air we breathe healthier. Hackney has had an AQAP in place since 2006, and the current AQAP was published in 2021. We are now in the process of adopting a new Air Quality Action Plan (2026-2030) to ensure the Plan remains up-to-date. 

We undertook early engagement between September and November 2024 to gather views and shape the direction of the new AQAP. An Early Engagement Report was published in February 2025. The Draft AQAP includes an Appendix which outlines how the feedback received during early engagement shaped the draft.

You can review the current AQAP (2021-2025) by visiting this link: hackney.gov.uk/air-quality-reports

Air quality in Hackney

Find out all about air quality in Hackney on our website.

Air pollution is the largest environmental risk to health in the UK. The health effects of exposure to air pollution are wide-ranging and can affect everyone. They can particularly affect vulnerable groups such as children and the elderly. There is evidence that exposure to air pollution can, among other health effects:

  • lead to or worsen asthma
  • result in poor lung development in children
  • contribute to diabetes, dementia and worsening mental health

The main air pollutants in Hackney are nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulate matter (which includes PM10 and PM2.5). The main sources of these pollutants in Hackney are as follows:

These are the main sources of each pollutant, although there are other contributors. 

There are also other pollutants that affect air quality. These include ozone (also known as photochemical smog), volatile organic compounds (VOCs - a wide group of different chemical compounds) and ammonia.

How air quality has changed

We have seen some significant improvements in air quality in recent years, but not for all pollutants. 

Average levels of NO2 in Hackney have fallen around 45% since 2017. The most significant falls have been measured at busy roadside locations. Most of this reduction is due to lower emissions from road traffic vehicle exhausts. It is likely that this is due to newer, less polluting vehicles replacing more polluting older vehicles, as well as policies such as the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ). 

However, levels of PM10 and PM2.5 have not reduced significantly in recent years. Measurements showed long-term reductions in PM10 until the mid-2010s. Since then, levels have neither increased, nor decreased, significantly. It is thought that decreases in emissions from road traffic exhausts have been offset by increases from other sources. These include construction dust, domestic wood/coal burning and brake and tyre wear from road traffic. An increase in heavier vehicles on the road may also be contributing to non-exhaust traffic emissions.

Air Quality Action Plan 2026-2030

The Draft AQAP 2026-2030 has been updated to ensure the actions within it are relevant to the most recent air quality issues in Hackney. The Draft AQAP shifts the focus on new emissions sources; makes some actions more ambitious; and introduces new actions to problems that have been identified in the past 4 years.

View the Draft AQAP 2026-2030 here.

The Draft AQAP covers 8 themes, which cover the most significant sources of air pollution and the main actions that we will take in Hackney.

We have also identified 10 actions in the AQAP which we consider to be our top priorities.

Click the links below to find out more.

Themes of the AQAP

Air quality monitoring and statutory duties

Hackney has an extensive air quality monitoring network, which we use to assess progress on our actions and compliance with our adopted targets and core statutory duties.

Planning and construction

Emissions from construction make up almost half of all PM10 emissions in Hackney. We will continue to regulate construction activity and reduce emissions associated with development through the planning system

Buildings, heating and solid fuel

We will support the adoption of clean heating technologies, raise awareness of the impact of smoke from wood and coal burning and work with the sector to manage emissions from commercial cooking.

Cleaner transport

Despite improvements, road traffic continues to be a major source of air pollution in Hackney. We will prioritise walking, cycling and other sustainable transport options to continue driving down emissions from traffic and transport in the borough, including those from deliveries and freight. We will also lead by example and continue reducing emissions from the Council’s own vehicles.

Schools, communities and the local environment

We will take action to improve air quality and reduce exposure where people are most vulnerable to the health effects of air pollution, such as around schools and healthcare settings. We will also address specific emissions sources that affect our local communities, such as in our parks, green spaces and town centres.

Public health and awareness raising

We will continue to work with our healthcare partners to raise awareness of the health impacts of air pollution and encourage behaviour change to reduce individuals’ exposure to poor air quality.

Advocacy and partnership working

We will work with and influence other organisations to reduce emissions outside of our control and coordinate regional and national work to improve air quality.

Indoor air quality

We will support work to raise awareness of indoor air quality to reduce the health impacts of exposure to indoor air pollution.

Priorities of the AQAP

Our top 10 key priorities focus on the actions we can take to deliver the most significant improvements to air quality within our control:

  1. Work towards achieving the 2021 WHO guideline values for NO2, PM10 and PM2.5, setting a realistic pathway to reduce levels in line with the interim targets.
  2. Clean up construction sites through the planning system, including carrying out compliance checks of the Non-Road Mobile Machinery (NRMM) emissions standards.
  3. Reduce emissions from solid fuel (wood and coal) burning, working to raise awareness of the health effects of wood burning and enforcing the Smoke Control Order
  4. Support the continued reduction in traffic across Hackney’s roads and assess the air quality impacts of traffic and transport schemes
  5. Tackle engine idling through increased campaigns and encourage behaviour change
  6. Invest in walking, cycling and sustainable transport infrastructure to support travel mode shift and support businesses to adopt lower emissions deliveries and freight, such as through the Zero Emissions Network
  7. Work to improve air quality on our waterways, engaging with communities to reduce the impacts on health and working with local people on ways to reduce emissions along the borough’s canals and rivers.
  8. Implement measures around schools, nurseries and healthcare settings to reduce the exposure of the most vulnerable people to high levels of air pollution
  9. Work closely with GPs, pharmacies, hospitals and public health colleagues to improve knowledge of the health effects of air pollution exposure, and increase the accessibility of information on local air quality
  10. Provide information on improving air quality indoors and work within our own buildings to reduce the production of indoor air pollutants.

We are also proposing to adopt targets for levels of air pollution that are stricter than those set out in UK regulations. These are based on the air quality guidelines published by the World Health Organization (WHO). 

Hackney is proposing to adopt targets for NO2, PM10 and PM2.5 based on WHO ‘interim targets’, to be met by 2030. We have selected these as a challenging but realistic target. Our targets are based on the ‘annual mean concentration’, which is the average level of the pollutant across the whole year. We are proposing the following targets, with the target (or ‘objective’) in current UK regulations is listed in brackets.

  • NO2: 30 µg/m³ (UK Air Quality Objective: 40 µg/m3)
  • PM10: 20 µg/m³ (UK Air Quality Objective: 40 µg/m3)
  • PM2.5: 10 µg/m³ (UK Air Quality Target: 10 µg/m3 by 2040)

Have your say

We want to hear your views on the Draft AQAP. Your feedback will help us ensure the AQAP is helping to improve air quality in Hackney in the most effective way possible.

  • What air quality issues are most important to you?
  • Do you agree with our proposed approach to meet World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines and targets?
  • Do you think our actions and priorities will effectively tackle air pollution in Hackney?
  • Do you have any further comments on the AQAP?

Please complete the online survey by 26 September 2025.

The survey will take approximately 15 minutes to complete.

If you would like to provide a more detailed response to this consultation, we welcome written submissions via email at landwaterair@hackney.gov.uk. Please indicate in the subject line that you are responding to the Air Quality Action Plan consultation.

If you require this document in a different format, please email landwaterair@hackney.gov.uk. We will consider your request and get back to you in the next five working days.

What happens next?

We will review all of the feedback received and consider any changes required to produce the final Air Quality Action Plan. We will analyse all of the responses and produce a report detailing our findings, outlining how the consultation has shaped the final Plan.

The Air Quality Action Plan will be submitted to the Mayor of London for approval and to Hackney councillors for adoption by the end of 2025. We anticipate that the Air Quality Action Plan will be published and formally adopted by the start of 2026.

Find out more

Join us in person to ask questions, provide feedback and find out more about air quality in Hackney:

  • Tuesday 16 September 2025, 4.30-7.30pm, Homerton Library (first floor)

Give us your views

Online Survey

Interests

  • Understanding views