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Air quality monitoring project hosts community workshop
3 December 2018
The event was the last in a series of workshops to help residents prioritise spending of the Community Infrastructure Levy
Last Friday, the third of a series of workshops聽aimed聽at mitigating negative impacts of major infrastructure projects around Euston Station聽was held at Basil Jellicoe Hall in Somers Town, Camden. The workshop was part of an on-going聽collaboration between UCL and the Somers Town Neighbourhood Forum (STNF).
The workshops aimed to help residents of the area prioritise spending of the Community Infrastructure Levy, a planning charge paid by developers to local authorities.
Donna Turnbull,聽who has previously worked on聽the undertaken by STNF, Voluntary Action Camden (VAC), the Environmental Law Foundation and UCL Faculty of Laws and Faculty of Engineering Sciences, said:聽
'I think it's fantastic that there is this level of technical expertise behind the voice of residents and the critical issues they are taking on in the Euston area.'
STNF and the Engineering Exchange received funding from聽UCL's Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF) Knowledge Exchange and Innovation Fund聽to undertake the work.
, a researcher in the UCL Bartlett School of Environment, Energy and Resources who worked on the project, said:
'Supporting STNF鈥檚 work on air quality in their local area has been incredibly rewarding. It has been an opportunity to understand the complexity of issues affecting local air quality and learn from the forum as they tackle these issues head on, working with all stakeholders and drawing on the creativity and commitment of their members to improve their environment and demand higher standards.'
聽are local community committees that聽can produce neighbourhood plans which must be taken into account by local planning authorities when assessing applications and developments. The Somers Town Neighbourhood Forum was one of the first to be established, formed in June 2013 in order to test this approach to community governance and engagement in planning.
Slaney Devlin,聽STNF chair聽and a Somers Town resident who has also taught on the EngEx CPD,听蝉补颈诲:
'The academic rigour and industry reach that UCL's Engineering Exchange has brought to the project have meant that the community's concerns about local air pollution are finally being taken seriously.'