Harrogate Borough Council

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Air quality in the United Kingdom has improved considerably over recent years. This has been achieved through tighter controls on emissions of pollutants from industry, transport and domestic sources, and overall the air we breathe today is cleaner than at any time since before the industrial revolution.

This long term improvement has reduced the annual number of premature deaths and hospital admissions by many thousands across the country as a whole.

Despite all this, air pollution is still estimated to reduce the life expectancy of every person in the UK by an average of 7-8 months and cause thousands of people every year to die prematurely due to its effects. Thousands more have to be admitted to hospital. Those most at risk are the young, the elderly and those who are already suffering from existing lung and heart conditions.  Even if you don't fall into any of these high risk categories, you may have relatives or friends who do.  

 

Air pollution is also known to have a detrimental effect on our ecosystems and vegetation. Clearly further improvement is needed.
 

 

The UK Government has set Air Quality Strategy objectives for outdoor concentrations of several common pollutants including nitrogen dioxide, carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, small particulates and ozone.

 

 

At the moment air quality in nearly all areas of the Harrogate District meets these objectives. More information on which areas have been given special consideration and what has been done can be found in the air quality reports which Harrogate Borough Council produces on an annual basis. They can be accessed in the Local Air Quality Reports section on the right hand side drop down menu.

 

Additional historical monitoring data for the Skipton Road, Harrogate, Air Quality Monitoring Station can be accessed for up to January 2007 here.

 

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) Air Pollution Information Service provides daily, easy-to-understand information on air pollution, completely free of charge. The service can be accessed by TV Teletext pages, freephone and the internet.

 

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