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More than one thousand locations in England still breaching air pollution limits

A data audit* by Friends of the Earth has revealed the 1,360 sites across England that have breached the annual Air Quality Objective for Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) levels, which are set to protect health.

The leading cause of NO2 pollution is emissions from road traffic, which is also a huge source of climate-wrecking emissions. Friends of the Earth is campaigning to remove polluting vehicles from the road and clean up transport – to fight the climate crisis and to protect public health.

Although the most recent data shows a marginal improvement from previous years (last year’s audit found 1,591 English locations breaching limits) there is still a shocking number of locations exceeding the Air Quality Objective, which Local Authorities have to achieve. Some places show very high levels of exposure (up to 144% above the objective).

Click here for the air pollution map of England. A spreadsheet organised by region and local authority is available here .