'Green wall' can now be installed to improve air quality at local schools

The Chiswick Oasis project has reached its funding target more than two weeks ahead of schedule. The achievement now means that a 'green wall' can be installed to reduce air pollution from the A4 outside St. Mary's Roman Catholic Primary School and the William Hogarth School.

313 backers have so far pledged £75,350, 4% over the fundraising target. This includes large donations from the Mayor of London and Swarovski, whose European HQ at Chiswick Business Park is less than a mile from the school. The PTA of St Mary's Primary School has also donated £5000.

The project attracted support from well-known names ranging from David Dimbleby, Emma Thompson, Jeremy Paxman, Claudia Winkleman and the cast of Eastenders. Some of them recorded video messages praising the parents at St. Mary's School and William Hogarth School for their work in launching the appeal.

Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan gave allocation of £32,000, nearly half of the project's fundraising target. The Mayor's funding allocation could only be released if the project was fully funded by 14 December, leaving the project only weeks to raise the remaining money.

‘Chiswick Oasis' was launched in September by a group of parents from St. Mary's and William Hogarth primary schools, which are immediately adjacent to the proposed site of the project at the southern end of Duke Road. The schools' grounds run alongside the A4, a major six-lane road which carries up to 100,000 motor vehicles every day.

The project involves installation of a “living wall” and other landscaping features along the A4 boundary wall, using plants which have proven benefits in removing pollutants from the air and improving air quality. Once the landscaping improvements are installed, the proposal is for the site to be made available for fairs, markets and community events, outside of school hours.

Air pollution levels surveys carried out around William Hogarth School and Cavendish Primary, as well as St Mary's found that all three were experiencing high levels of pollution, mainly due to the proximity of busy main roads. In the case of St Mary's approximately 47,300 vehicles per day travel on the core roads within a 200m radius of the school, which the report said was is within the upper quartile for traffic volumes amongst the 50 schools assessed as part of the programme.

December 1, 2018