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 .