Pollution in region costing millions

Six blackspots in national league of shame

Pollution blackspots in Yorkshire’s towns and cities dominate a league of shame, as research reveals fumes from cars and vans are costing nearly £6bn in damage to health each year in the UK.

The health costs to the NHS and society was worst in cities, with Leeds in third place behind London and Birmingham.

We need Government support to enable us to deliver local plans. Martin Tett, environment spokesman at the Local Government Association.

POLLUTION BLACKSPOTS in Yorkshire’s towns and cities dominate a league of shame, as research reveals fumes from cars and vans are costing nearly £6bn in damage to health each year in the UK.

The health costs to the NHS and society was worst in cities, with the cost from the average car in inner London over the vehicle’s lifetime on the road at £7,714, the study by researchers at the universities of Oxford and Bath found.

For diesel cars in the heart of the city, health costs from pollutants nitrogen dioxide and tiny particles known as PM2.5 is as high as £16,424, the report released ahead of Clean Air Day on June 21 found.

On average across the country, health costs from air pollution that could be attributed to a typical UK car running on fossil fuels over its 14-year lifetime amount to £1,640, while a van costs £5,107 over its nine years on the road.

Six areas in Yorkshire also appear on a list of the areas of England with the biggest annual health costs from cars, based on the costs per vehicle and the types registered, according to environmental charity Global Action Plan.

While the capital tops the list at £650.4m, Leeds follows Birmingham in third place with £76.6m.

Meanwhile, Sheffield appears at ninth with £38.6m and Bradford, Kirklees, Doncaster and Wakefield also feature with costs believed to be above £30m each respectively.

Martin Tett, environment spokesman at the Local Government Association, said Government plans to improve air quality needed to be underpinned by local flexibility and sufficient funding and accompanied by robust national action.

“It is also important that councils have the powers to further tackle air pollution, particularly with regard to clean air zones as well as expanded road and traffic measures,” he said.

“If we’re to truly tackle air pollution, we need Government support to enable us to deliver effective local plans and robust national action to help the country transition to low-emission vehicles and power generation.”

Battery-powered electric vehicles are less dangerous to health because they create no tailpipe emissions, though they still generate polluting particles through wear on tyres and braking.

But the health damage from emissions from diesel vehicles, which produce far more nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter, is about five times higher than petrol vehicles and 20 times greater than for electric vehicles.

If every new car in 2019 were electric, it would save more than £325m in health costs in the first year, Global Action Plan said.

And, swapping one in four car journeys in urban areas for walking or cycling could save more than £1.1bn in damage to health each year, the charity added.

Nearly 90 per cent of all the health costs associated with pollution from cars and vans is down to diesel vehicles. Air pollution is linked to about 40,000 premature UK deaths each year.