Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Weekly air pollution data - N4 Ladder - wc 9 Feb
A better week! And it has been noticed with less smog on the streets and hopefully better breathing.
I wonder if the wind was in a different direction? Good to hear from people in the Gardens - what has it been like for you?
Same peaks though around 7pm.....
I have shared this data with the council - absolutely no response! So much for their responsiveness for the heath of residents, particularly children.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter
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ALICE thanks for posting the data: it illustrates legitimate concern by residents.
Unfortunately, exceeding WHO guidelines for daily particulates makes no difference to the CurrentCrew.
This kind of air pollution is most hazardous to young growing lungs and those with asthma.
I was fortunate to grow up in a capital where the entire city benefitted from permanent air-conditioning (windy Wellington NZ). Car-owners in Haringey car-owners often have aircon inside, but cannot avoid air pollution on the streets and in their homes. Some of them may have young families.
If the council's Director of Public Health has concerns, then if expressed publicly, they would need to go through the dense filter of the council's active and over-funded PR Team. The Director may have been told to stay in your lane (regrettably, Highways outranks Public Health).
The sole decision-making body of the council ("Cab", the Cabinet) make all the right PR noises.
However, if they'd wanted to take real action, then they'd have done so many years ago. The council performs endless, cyclical studies and consultations in order to kick-the-can-down-the-road and avoid meaningful action.
Cab's private view is likely to be leave it to the experts.
In actual practice, any experts on the council just leave it.
And this, with either the tacit or explicit approval of Cab. There is net-zero political-will to action.
Last week's largely empty PR piece in the Ham&High needs to be seen in the context of the run-up to the election and in particular, the threat to the council Majority Group from the Green Party.
A veil is drawn over the removal of the previous relevant Cab member. In the HoL post entitled Haringey Climate Partnership, the key phrase is ~
This meeting will also be an opportunity to meet our new Cabinet Member for Climate & Environment Cllr Ibrahim Ali."
After the election—when Labour again form the council Majority Group (with a reduced majority?)—the environment PR will be downplayed if not shelved. Again.
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Permalink Reply by Oli Brown
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Emissions from the grill restaurants in Green Lanes. Enforce filtering or close them down.
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Thank you for sharing this data, Alice. It may be better than last week, but it's still dreadful. While I’m partial to a bit of charcoal-grilled meat myself, a peak of five times the WHO safe limit clearly points to the restaurants. Anyone who has lived here long enough can attest to seeing that 'fog' of fumes over the lower Ladder on summer nights.
I suffer from an eye condition called Thyroid Eye Disease (TED) and have just been made aware of the proven links between my condition and particulate pollution. I’ve had four eye operations in the last two years; I don’t want any more myself, or for others to go through that.
Why charcoal smoke is so nasty for our eyes and lungs:
Acrolein: Generated when fats burn at high heat (charring). It is a potent lacrimator—a component of tear gas (!)—that directly damages corneal epithelial cells.
PAHs: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons adhere to the surface of PM2.5 particles. When these land on your eye, they trigger oxidative stress that exacerbates the autoimmune response in TED.
The grease carrier: Unlike dry dust, these particles are coated in microscopic fat droplets. They cling to your eye’s tear film longer than dry dust, prolonging the irritation.
There are around 20 authentic Ocakbaşı restaurants between Endymion Road and Turnpike Lane. Here is the reality of their combined emissions:
Peer-reviewed studies consistently show that grilling high-fat meat produces 10g to 40g of PM2.5 per kg of meat.
On a busy Friday, 20 restaurants cooking 100kg of meat each = 80,000g of fine particulate matter released into the Harringay air in a single 24-hour period.
A modern Euro 6 diesel car is legally allowed to emit only 0.0045g per kilometre.
To reach the 80,000g dumped onto the Ladder in a single day, a modern car would have to drive 17,777,777 kilometres.
That is the equivalent of a car driving around the entire circumference of the Earth 443 times—or 18 times every single hour.
What can we actually do? If this were one power plant pumping out that much pollution every Friday night (and in terms of emissions, it's comparable), it would be easier to regulate. Because it is 20 separate small businesses, the laws aren't set up to deal with it and the council says it hasn't the funding to fix it. However, Haringey is currently moving into a new phase for its 2025–2030 Action Plan. We could lobby to have "commercial charcoal emissions" listed as a Priority Area. This would allow the council to create a "special policy area" for Green Lanes, requiring all restaurants on that strip to install ESPs (electrostatic precipitators)—industrial-grade filters—regardless of size.
It would help to have a record of any symptoms people are experiencing. Are you or your family noticing:
Watery or stinging eyes?
Kids needing their inhalers more often?
Persistent dry coughs or scratchy throats that seem to get worse on big grill nights or the morning after?
- Perhaps you are an asthmatic or suffer from COPD and have noticed your symptoms getting worse.
- Symptoms that only developed after you moved to the Ladder?
To report a nuisance in Haringey, you can keep a 14-day log and send it to pollution@haringey.gov.uk. If you aren't getting responses, you can escalate to the local government ombudsman (lgo.org.uk)
It might be worth someone approaching The Environmental Law Foundation (elflaw.org).
P.S. Please DM me if you also suffer from TED, as I am conducting a separate project on that and am keen to hear from sufferers.
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