Heathrow AirWatch launches its new and improved website
In 2023 CISHA commissioned Thinks Insight and Strategy to conduct an independent review of the local community’s views on air quality, including perceptions about Heathrow Airport’s actions and commitments to improve air quality.
As a result of this project, Thinks drew up a series of recommendations to the airport, suggesting ways in which it could improve and further benefit local communities.
Recommendations
These recommendations fell into five broad categories:
1. Building evidence on the impact of air pollution around Heathrow Airport on public health
2. Expanding the monitoring infrastructure around Heathrow Airport
3. Improving the way Heathrow Airport communicates and displays air quality data
4. Introducing independent oversight over Heathrow Airport’s air quality targets
5. Set air quality targets and expectations for airlines and other airport suppliers
For more detail on each, please refer to the summary report or full report.
The airport’s formal response to these recommendations was as follows:
“Heathrow welcomes the air quality scrutiny report from CISHA. As one of the most important environmental issues faced by airports; we were pleased that air quality was selected as the inaugural scrutiny project for the Council. The activity has added significant information to help inform our ongoing work through Heathrow 2.0 to deliver clean air at and around Heathrow.”
Great progress has been made by the Heathrow Air Quality Working Group (HAQWG), who were tasked with reviewing the extensive report and considering the improvements suggested by members of the community during the research.
With regard to the third recommendation, the airport commissioned a refresh of the Heathrow Airwatch website, with work commencing at the beginning of 2024. The HAQWG have been working with Ricardo to incorporate this input from the local community in the redesign of the website. The new website “went live” on 12th November 2024, providing a platform that is simpler to use and more accessible to all.
The most significant changes and improvements are:
AIR POLLUTION ALERTS
Community engagement highlighted the need to be warned when elevated pollutants affecting local air quality are forecast. These alerts and forecasts are now fully integrated into both the monitoring network and the website, thus delivering a consistently better user experience to residents than other, more general air pollution alerts systems.
AREA COMPARISON TOOL
The research showed that the residents perceived air quality to be particularly poor around the airport. This tool was developed to enable comparisons between the Heathrow monitoring area and London.
INTERACTIVE MODELLED DATA
Air quality maps now include data from national Air Quality models. This will allow users to explore changes in annual models and provide a wider assessment of the state of air quality in terms of airborne concentrations and potential human exposure.
THE FIRST PUBLICATION OF UFP DATA ON AIRWATCH
For the first time, the new website includes monitoring data regarding Ultrafine Particles (UFP). This data comes from a monitoring station adjacent to the north runway (called LHR2). Not enough is known about UFPs and their impacts yet, but the airport has been funding research for nearly a decade. It funds one of only five permanent monitoring stations in the country, which is currently showing similar average readings to central London.
The airport, together with the HAQWG, will continue to develop our understanding and use this data to drive future decisions.
Have you had a chance to look yet?
Let us know what you think www.heathrowairwatch.org.uk email us your thoughts to AirQuality@heathrow.com
Brian Stacey, Chair
Heathrow Air Quality Working Group