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Air quality, health and learning Sara Ahern Research Fellow, Bradford Institute for Health Research @dr_sara_ahern Email us: borninbradford@bthft.nhs.uk; follow us @bibresearchborninbradford@bthft.nhs.uk Public Forum for Education, 24 th June 2015

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Air pollution in Bradford Bradford, 1873 Clean Air Acts 1956 + 1968 great improvements in air quality

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Air pollution in Bradford Copyright Ruth Sharville and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons LicenceRuth SharvillereuseCreative Commons Licence Bradford, 2015 air pollution much less visible But still some of the poorest air quality in the country has a negative impact on our health

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Sources of air pollution Nitrogen Oxides (NO x ) Particulate Matter (PM 10 and PM 2.5 ) Ozone (O 3 ) Sulphur Dioxide (SO 2 ) Carbon Monoxide (CO)

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Air pollution and health children and older people are particularly vulnerable as well as people with breathing or heart problems linked to: heart disease and coronary events COPD stroke certain cancers asthma low birth weight babies neurodevelopmental issues poor cognition

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Air pollution and inequalities 0 - 0.1 most deprived 0.9 - 1 least deprived High levels of NO 2 Low levels of NO 2 Adapted from Bradford Low Emissions Strategy 2012 (Page 15)

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Air pollution and low birth weight ESCAPE Project www.escapeproject.eu

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ESCAPE Project

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Impact on learning Direct effects poorer working memory poorer motor skills smaller improvement in cognitive development Indirect effects low birth weight - associated with higher rates of illness and neurodevelopmental problems school attendance - lost days as a result of illness

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So what is BiB doing? HELIX Project www.projecthelix.eu

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So what is BiB doing? HELIX Project www.projecthelix.eu

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So what is BiB doing? Playground Project

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So what is BiB doing?

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Air quality and active travel What influences parents choice of transport for school journeys? What barriers exist to walking or cycling to school? What makes it easier to walk or cycle to school? How can we increase active travel and reduce exposure?

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5 primary schools in West Yorkshire (2 in Bradford) Aim to recruit and interview ~ 40 parents Mix of: ~10 interviews with head teachers and parent involvement workers Progress: 15 parents recruited and 10 parent interviews completed Air quality and active travel

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What weve heard so far From parents: From schools: there is too much traffic there are too many cars parked along the road If it was closer Id be more likely to walk. Its too far, my child gets tired. Its not just our parents, its the fact that theres so many schools in this area We would be worried about sustainability.

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Analysis Collate findings from interviews Intervention development Work with stakeholders to develop a programme which will: encourage active travel reduce exposure to pollution as far as possible Feasibility study Test how acceptable the programme is in practice Establish how successful the programme is in meeting aims Next steps.