Leeds' Air Pollution Crisis - How Is It Affecting Leeds And Why Is No One Talking About It?

When people think of air pollution, they usually picture the great cities of the East, such as Hong Kong, conquered by an unstoppable smog. And while this is certainly a accurate display of extreme levels of air pollution, the air pollution in the UK is not looked upon with the same horror as the people see no visible evidence of it. Another problem is that air pollution is often seen as the same as global warming and while air polluted with carbon dioxide contributes greatly to global warming, it must be known that air pollution is its own beast. Air pollution can be present without carbon dioxide and other harmful gases such as nitrogen dioxide can be more detrimental to those that breath it in despite having no effect on global warming. For this post, I want to focus on air pollution and not global warming, which is in its own right a major crisis, because air pollution is just as harmful and dangerous yet nowhere nearly well understood.


Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, Leeds has been through thick, city swallowing smog, into the mid 1950s when air pollution was drastically reduced due to the introduction of new legislation, and on and on into the apparently clear, clean air we enjoy now. The days of the past in which the city centre's air would become so dense with smoke that the streets had to be evacuated are now, for most of us, a fable of the old days, but not entirely behind us. As recently as March 2015 the high levels of air pollution triggered smog warnings across Yorkshire, raising concerns for anyone with respiratory problems and the elderly. For many people, leaving their house was not an option; and for others, they could only go around with inhalers to hand. When it is imagined, it seems like a dystopian version of Leeds but this happened only as recently as 2015. As air pollution only gets worse, what has to be done to save Leeds from this becoming a regular occurrence. In the view of many in Leeds our air is clean enough but do we mean when we say the airs clean? It's not only on days of blinding smog that the good people of Leeds can have trouble breathing easily and the fact that prescriptions for the treatment of asthma in Leeds cost over £14 million in 2014 supports this statement.

The threat we face now is comes from the chemicals we do not and can not see. Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is a major contributor to air pollution, and can lead to the development of respiratory problems, reduced immunity to lung infections, and more frequent and intense attacks for those with asthma. The main source of NO2 is the emisision from vehicles and although modern cars are manufactured to meet minimum standards and only produce small quantities of pollutants, the numbers of cars in Leeds, which seem to be like to foam of the sea, add up to a bigger problem. NO2 levels are controlled by the European Union, and levels in Leeds City Centre were above the EU's mandated limit last year, averaging 28.09 parts per billion, compared to the target of 21ppb. Although that is much less than is found in the centre of London (47.47ppb), it is more than you would inhale walking down Piccadilly in Manchester (20.20ppb). Not all of Leeds is affected the same way, though. Temple Newsam, for example, has an average of only 10.29ppb, easy-breathing air compared to the city centre. 

One fact stands out, though. On the day of the Grand Depart of the Tour De France, when cars were banned from the centre of Leeds and cyclists took their place, NO2 levels dropped by 20%. I'm sure that the Town Hall's lions no doubt appreciated the cleaner air. But as we cannot host the Tour de France every day, the question and the challenge remains: what can we change in our lives to make another 20% change in the environment and the lives around us?