Local stories

Sandfield Primary School

Sandfield Primary School has secured £40,000 in funding from the Reclaim Network to support an urban greening initiative aimed at safeguarding the well-being of its students. This project, known as "GoGreen," represents an ongoing partnership involving the school, Sandfield's parents, local residents, the charitable organization Zero Carbon Guildford, and the renowned Global Centre for Clean Air Research (GCARE) at the University of Surrey. The primary objective of this project is to employ various strategies to mitigate, eliminate, and closely monitor air pollution in the vicinity of Sandfield's premises. 

Situated at the bustling intersection of York Road and Stoke Road, Sandfield frequently experiences traffic congestion during school drop-off and pick-up times. Professor Prashant Kumar and his team at GCARE have conducted continuous assessments of air quality levels at the school, revealing frequent breaches of safe air quality standards. 

The repercussions of local air pollution reach far beyond the students of Sandfield. Guildford ranks in the 97th percentile for air pollution levels across the UK and occasionally experiences the most severe air quality issues in all of England. There is a hopeful expectation that the Sandfield project will inspire initiatives in other areas to enhance the well-being and happiness of the borough's residents. 

To put it in perspective, air pollution is a contributing factor to approximately 40,000 premature deaths in the UK annually. Furthermore, Surrey bears a traffic burden 66% higher than the national average, resulting in congestion-related costs of £550 million for the local Surrey economy each year.