With the rides now safely away from Walton Street for another year, our environmental carnival correspondent Angus Young looks at how sustainable the event is.
We all know it’s colourful, noisy and designed to empty your wallet faster than a gang of pickpockets in Dickensian London. But how environmentally-friendly is Hull Fair?
Well, the latest terms and conditions for operators produced by Hull City Council covering this year’s event are big on recycling and reducing waste. Catering stalls are not allowed to use plastic, trays and cutlery; dry refuse such as glass, metals and plastics must be recycled separately from general waste while anyone spotted pouring waste fat and oil down a drain risks a £300 fine.
However, there is no monitoring or enforcement in place to curb any potentially harmful emissions being thrown into the night air above Walton Street.
Travelling fairs rely heavily on diesel-powered generators to power rides and stalls and Hull Fair traditionally billed as Europe’s biggest travelling funfair – is no exception. In 2019 an in-depth report on the environmental impact of diesel use at outdoor events in the UK painted a grim picture. Describing it as a “public health emergency”, the report estimated the annual emissions from generators at events was the equivalent of adding 220,000 diesel-powered cars to the roads every day.
Putting it another way, the report suggesting offsetting the annual emission of 1.2 million tonnes from generators would require the planting of a forest four times the size of Birmingham every year.
Of course, change can happen if you put your mind to it as the organisers of the Humber Street Sesh proved two years ago when they switched from using diesel to hydro-treated vegetable oil, supplied at a discounted rate by local firm J.R. Rix & Sons. They oil powered all the stages, bars and lighting and reduced the Sesh’s carbon footprint by 90 per cent.
What Hull Fair’s carbon footprint is anyone’s guess without any specific quality monitoring in place. The only recorded measurement is taken 500 metres away along Anlaby Road by a nitrogen dioxide monitoring unit which is part of a citywide network designed to keep tabs of vehicle emissions. Even then, it only provides monthly data which is eventually published.
In a statement, the council said: “Air quality is rigorously monitored throughout Hull, via more than 150 monitoring stations around the city, which provide a monthly update on levels of Oxides of Nitrogen. Every year, we use this data to create a publicly available report which is robustly reviewed by DEFRA, to assess whether there is more the council can do to improve air quality. We also have our own Air Quality Strategy; another public document setting out our plans to continue making improvements.
“Generally, air quality in Hull is good, with only one area of the city exceeding the nationally set Air Quality Standards. That’s an area around the A63, and the current works by Highways England include a requirement for them to reduce concentrations to below the set levels. Base measurements are not carried out before or during Hull Fair, due to the continuous monitoring already ongoing.”