Air pollution in parts of Leeds is still more than three times the recommended international limit, despite having fallen significantly.
None of the nine sites across the city for which figures have been published exceeded the 40µg/m3 UK legal limit for nitrogen dioxide levels in 2023.
But NO2 levels at all nine locations were above the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) recommended limit of 10µg/m3.
Air quality in Leeds is improving, with nearly half the sites at which data was recorded having exceeded the 40µg/m3 limit in 2017.
Air pollution is extremely harmful, causing a reduction in healthy life expectancy equivalent to between 29,000 and 43,000 deaths a year in the UK, according to a 2022 UK Health Security Agency report.
Local authorities are required to publish an air quality annual status report each year, setting out the latest pollution levels and what steps are being taken to improve the air we breathe.
Leeds City Council’s latest report includes NO2 figures from 2023 for nine sites around the city.
Those sites are listed below, from the least to the most polluted. We have only used the data for NO2 levels and not for particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5).
9. Corn Exchange
A23 Corn Exchange 2 is the most polluted of the 9 monitoring sites for which Leeds City Council has published air quality data for 2023. The 39µg/m3 annual mean concentration of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) recorded there in 2023 is nearly four times the WHO's recommended limit, and only just below the UK legal limit of 40µg/m3. NO2 levels at the site have decreased from 43µg/m3 in 2017. | James Hardisty Photo: YPN