The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan , this week called on Hillingdon residents to vote Labour on May 3 to clean up Hillingdon’s "filthy" air after statistics gathered by the Labour Party showed it is some of London's most polluted.
Sadiq Khan issued the rallying call as he criticised Tory London Assembly members for "repeatedly opposing" his measures to crackdown on air pollution.
In a TFL and GLA study updated in 2016, Hillingdon - where Heathrow Airport is located - had the second highest number of air pollution hotspots in the whole of Greater London, where levels of Nitrogen Dioxide fall below EU standards.
But Conservative leader in the borough, Ray Puddifoot , says while there are air quality issues in the borough, centred on Heathrow, it is his party that will push for a judicial review to ensure the airport's expansion cannot be approved if it does not meet the current environmental standards.
He said: "We don't take any notice of the Mayor of London as this election is about local issues .
"We have £200,000 set aside to take the Heathrow decision to judicial review and when our lawyers say go, we will go."
Mr Puddifoot says the biggest issue surrounding Heathrow is emissions caused by transport to and from the airport by passenger and supply vehicles rather than by aircraft emissions.
He adds his party is "extremely disappointed" with the local Hillingdon Labour group because it refused to support the Conservative council's proposal to suggest Gatwick as a viable alternative airport for a new runway.
He says this clearly shows the local Labour Party is "at odds" with the Mayor.
To help solve the air pollutions problem, Mr Khan has championed an Ultra-Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ) in which all vehicles have to meet emissions standards or face congestion charges to help ease the problem.
He wants a ULEZ scheme planned for central London to be extended out to the North and South Circulars, to but leader of the Conservative GLA group, Gareth Bacon, has called for such an extension to be scrapped.
He says it is too costly involving a £780m outlay to set it up and would involve massive changes of infrastructure and be "punitive" to drivers.
While Mr Bacon supports the scheme being introduced in the central London Congestion Charge (CCZ) zone, he favours other solutions for the suburbs, such as buying 2,200 hybrid buses and converting 10,000 taxis to low polluting LPG fuel. He also favours extending the boiler scrappage scheme introduced by former Tory London Mayor Boris Johnson, a scheme to consolidate freight traffic, plans for electric vehicle hire and a diesel scrappage scheme.
'Willing to put party politics before health'
But Mr Khan accused the Tories of playing politics over pollution.
He said: “It is clear that the Tories are willing to put petty party politics before the health of Londoners by trying to stop my efforts as Mayor to improve London’s toxic air every step of the way.
“I am saying directly to Hillingdon residents - it is time to send the Tories a message and vote Labour on May 3 to clean up Hillingdon’s filthy air. Only Labour is taking the action needed to tackle air pollution in our city, while the Tories have repeatedly opposed measures to crack down on our unhealthy pollution levels.
“I will continue doing everything in my power to help improve the air quality in your area. But that job will be made much easier with the support of Labour councillors and councils who are willing to do what it takes to get tough on London’s toxic air, rather than play games and slow down progress.”
There are 187 Air Quality Focus Areas in London. These are locations that not only exceed the EU annual mean limit value for Nitrogen Oxide but are also locations with high human exposure.
Hillingdon has the second highest number of AQF areas of all the Greater London boroughs with 12. Barnet has the largest number with 14.
Ealing has eight and Hounslow six.
The 12 most polluted areas in Hillingdon:
Hayes Town Botwell Lane/Pump Lane
Hayes North Hyde Road
Heathrow area
A40 / Swakeleys Road
A40 / South Ruislip
Ossie Garvin to Southall Park
West Drayton / Yiewsley
A 40 / Long Lane
Uxbridge town centre
Uxbridge Road corridor
Ruislip town centre
The full data set can be found at by clicking here.