Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many people in England are living in an area with an illegal level of air pollution.

The UK meets legal limits for concentrations of all air pollutants, with the exception of nitrogen dioxide (NO₂). Calculating peoples’ annual NO₂ exposure is not straightforward, because an individual’s exposure varies as they move about their daily life. The Government therefore does not hold estimates of the number of people exposed to NO₂ levels above legal limits.

The vast majority of exceedances of the NO₂ limits occur at roadside locations within ten metres of the kerb. We are working with a number of local authorities to reduce roadside NO₂ concentrations, and our latest modelling indicates that 9% of the road links assessed exceeded NO₂ limits.