Children ‘at risk from air pollution’

HEALTH: The Government has been accused of placing children’s health at grave risk by failing to tackle air pollution after it emerged that Yorkshire is one of the worst regions in the country for illegal levels.

THE GOVERNMENT has been accused of placing children’s health at grave risk by failing to tackle air pollution after it emerged that Yorkshire is one of the worst regions in the country for illegal levels of pollutants.

Research published today shows that more than eight million children live in areas of the UK with illegal levels of air pollution. Some 8.3m under-18s live in local authority areas where levels of harmful pollutant nitrogen dioxide exceeded legal limits in 2015, according to analysis by the Labour Party of figures from the House of Commons Library.

About three fifths of youngsters were living in areas across the UK where pollution limits were breached in 2015, the estimates show. The analysis suggests 2.5m under-fives were living in areas of the UK with illegally dirty air in 2015, which is 63 per cent of all children in the age group. All children in London face illegal pollution levels, as the air quality limits were exceeded in all boroughs in the capital.

Outside London, Yorkshire was the worst-affected region, with an estimated 83 per cent of youngsters living in areas with illegal pollution, followed by the North-East and the North-West.

The study comes just weeks after council chiefs in Leeds unveiled plans to create a Clean Air Zone after it was named as one of 29 local authorities whose roads breached legal pollution levels. Buses, taxis and lorries could be hit with daily £100 fines if they breach emissions limits under proposals by Leeds City Council.

The council would follow civic leaders in Sheffield, who in October revealed plans to become the first council in the North to start fining drivers who leave their vehicles running outside schools and hospitals, in a bid to drive down air pollution levels.

Shadow Environment Secretary Sue Hayman said: “With the majority of our young people now growing up in areas that breach air quality limits it’s clear the UK is in the middle of a dirty air emergency. Dirty air is a clear and present health hazard; it can take years off a person’s life.”

The Government was ordered to produce the latest air pollution plans in July, after courts ruled previous plans would not meet EU pollution limits, which the UK has breached since 2010.

An spokesman for the Government said: “Air pollution has improved significantly since 2010, but we recognise there is more to do which is why we have put in place a £3.5bn plan to improve air quality and reduce harmful emissions. We will also end the sale of conventional new diesel and petrol cars and vans by 2040, and next year we will publish a comprehensive clean air strategy which will set out further steps to tackle air pollution.”

It’s clear the UK is in the middle of a dirty air emergency. Shadow Environment Secretary Sue Hayman.