Three new air quality monitors have been installed across London Heritage Quarter – LHQ – which brings together the business improvement districts of Victoria, Victoria Westminster, Whitehall and Northbank.

Insight
The project will provide greater insight into the air taken in by Londoners every day. Tracking levels of fine particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide, two of the most harmful pollutants in city environments, the monitors provide live data through the Breathe London Communities platform and appear on Westminster City Council’s near real-time air quality map.

Commitment
The monitors have been installed in Parliament Square, Northumberland Avenue, and Bridge Street through a collaboration between LHQ, Imperial College London’s Environmental Research Group, and Westminster City Council. The project is part of a wider commitment to create healthier public spaces and support behaviour change that reduces emissions

The LHQ area covers a 193-hectare stretch from Victoria to Aldwych. It’s an area rich in London icons – from theatres and galleries to restaurants, museums, and historic landmarks.

Public engagement
The monitoring programme supports LHQ’s recently launched Sustainability Action Plan, developed with consultancy Bioregional, which calls for greater public engagement with local air quality data. The findings will help shape future projects across LHQ – from street redesigns to smarter freight and delivery systems – that reduce congestion and support cleaner air.

This work also feeds directly into Westminster City Council’s new Air Quality Action Plan 2025–2040, contributing to a broader strategy for tackling pollution and protecting public health across central London.

Roadmap
Cllr Ryan Jude, Westminster City Council Cabinet Member for Climate Action, Ecology, Culture and Air Quality, commented: “Air pollution is one of the greatest threats to public health. In Westminster, we have launched a new Air Quality Action Plan, which is backed by comprehensive analysis of air pollution data and provides a clear roadmap to reducing air pollution level to WHO guidelines by 2040.

“Through close collaborations with our partners and a focus on collecting better and more accurate data, we are committed to cleaning up our air and creating a fairer environment for everyone in Westminster.”

https://london-hq.co.uk