Air pollution causes between 28,000 and 36,000 premature deaths every year in the UK. Roughly 9,500 of these are in London. Air pollution is also known to cause a variety of chronic illnesses such as:
- asthma
- chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
- cancer and
- alzheimer's
Pollution disproportionately affects the most vulnerable in our society, such as:
- the very young
- the very old and
- those with preexisting health issues
Yet every Londoner is exposed to dangerous levels of air pollution.
Sutton's air pollution problem
Much of our borough is compliant with the National Air Quality Objectives Yet many people in Sutton live in areas that exceed the legal exposure limit for nitrogen dioxide (NO2).
We use a state-of-the-art air quality monitoring network to gather data. This reveals exceedances of the National Air Quality Objectives for particulate matter.
You can look at pie charts that show where air pollution in Sutton comes from.
The entire borough is now designated as an Air Quality Management Area. This is under Part IV of the Environment Act (1995). This means that we're required to:
- draw up an Air Quality Action Plan and
- report progress annually to the Greater London Authority
You can find these documents on our Action Plan and Reports page.