Barnet is on its way to having some of the cleanest air in London, according to the findings which saw the borough awarded for its efforts to fight pollution.

The Cleaner Air Borough accreditation, awarded to boroughs which effectively monitor and reduce air pollution, is part of the Mayor of London’s Local Air Quality Management (LLAQM) framework.

It was given to Barnet Council last week for “effectively monitoring and reducing air pollution” with its environmental team, managed by Regional Enterprise (Re).

LLAQM is used by local authorities to review and improve air quality within their areas, designed to specifically meet London’s needs.

Councillor Dean Cohen, chair of the environment committee, said: “We are very pleased our hard work to keep Barnet’s air clean has paid off.”

“Air pollution obviously affects the health of everyone who lives in, works in or visits our borough.

“This is why our work in this area is vital and we will continue to do our best to keep the air as clean as possible.”

The council was praised for its work involving schools and the local public through the Air Quality Champion scheme, which is run jointly with Harrow Council.

Barnet has made progress on a number of measures as part of the North Finchley Clean Air project, as well as developing a new action plan for the period 2016-2021 to further tackle pollution.

114 trees have been planted on streets close to busy junctions to help reduce pollution.

The trees such as Magnolia and London Plane are “nitrogen-loving” and each tree removes 2kg of carbon dioxide from the air per year.

Have you noticed the difference in recent years? Does Barnet feel cleaner or greener to you? Let us know in the comments.