Air Quality Projects

Air Quality Alerts

Visit the Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire Air Pollution Alert System to receive air quality alerts straight to your mobile phone.

This free service will be of particular benefit to people with medical conditions that may be affected by pollution, such as asthma, bronchitis and emphysema.

Live Air Quality Data

East Herts Council, through a grant from DEFRA, has installed three additional ‘live’ air quality monitors to complement the data obtained from the current ‘live’ air quality monitor and NOx tubes which are spread across the district. These new monitors are based in each of the council’s air quality management areas in Hertford, Sawbridgeworth and Bishop’s Stortford.

These new monitors went live in May 2024 and the data they provide can help us identify trends in pollution levels across the day.  Data from all four monitors can be accessed using the links below:

  1. Exiting continuous air quality monitor - Hertford
  2. New continuous air quality monitors – Bishop’s Stortford, Hertford and Sawbridgeworth

Breathe Clean

Beech tree saplings in grassland

From June 2023 to April 2024, we ran an important new project across East Hertfordshire, called Breathe Clean.

The project was funded by DEFRA and in collaboration with the Hertfordshire ‘Let’s Clear the Air’ campaign.

Our project team from MP Smarter Travel worked with schools, workplaces, councillors and community groups to highlight some of the simple, small actions we can all do to protect ourselves from air pollution and reduce our personal contribution to the issue.

The Breathe Clean project included:

  • Educating our communities on the causes, impacts and solutions to air pollution
  • 30 school workshops on air quality, the danger of idling, healthy walking routes and the benefits of active travel
  • Travel plans and active travel incentives for six workplaces
  • Helping community groups set up sustainability events
  • Air quality monitoring at key sites and by schools and community groups
  • Anti-idling enforcement at schools and by volunteers

Schools

We ran an inter-school Breathe Clean competition with schools in Bishop’s Stortford, Sawbridgeworth and Hertford. We challenged them to spend a year working with their students to reduce air pollution around their school site and raise awareness of how staff and students can protect themselves from high pollution exposure. We supported them to plan activities and events such as outdoor classroom days, car free days, walk to school weeks, and scientific experiments including air quality monitoring.

Alongside this competition, we are offered a series of 30 free workshops to the schools, on topics such as anti-idling, low pollution walking routes, and the creation of news flash videos.

We also shared the Let’s Clear the Air schools toolkit which included useful and engaging activities, information, templates and lesson plans. Visit the Kids Zone to find some of these resources.

Community groups

Shoppers on Buntingford High Street

We worked with community groups to raise awareness of the causes, impacts and solutions to air pollution. We supported community groups to carry out their own air quality events and activities, such as anti-idling enforcement and air quality monitoring.

We also shared the Let’s Clear the Air community toolkit which anyone can use to raise awareness of air pollution through their own networks and neighbourhoods. Community groups and individuals also made use of air quality monitoring equipment to understand levels of pollution in their area.

Businesses and workplaces

Man cycling past a train station

We worked with six businesses to assess current employee, logistics and freight travel patterns and introduce measures to incentivise higher levels of walking and cycling to work or using public transport. Not only does active travel reduce carbon emissions and improve air quality, it also has huge benefits for the mental health, physical health and productivity of your staff.