Overall

• The total cost to the NHS and social care system related to air pollutants between 2017 and 2025 is estimated to reach £1.6 billion (Moldoveanu, 2025)
• The contribution to the annual mortality of human-made air pollution across the country is roughly between 28,000 to 36,000 deaths every year (Moldoveanu, 2025)
• Air pollution in the UK is costing more than £500m a week in ill health, NHS care and productivity losses (Gregory, 2025)
  
  • Killing more than 500 people a week
• Air pollution in the UK now kills 30,000 people and costs £27bn a year, according to the research, which also said there was no safe level of air pollutants (Gregory, 2025)
• Physical inactivity costs the UK economy an estimated £7.4 billion per year (Healthy Air Coalition, 2025)
  
  • £1 billion in direct NHS costs
  • Active travel schemes can deliver an average return of £5.50 for every £1 spent
  • Current active travel spending is only 2% of the overall transport budget
• Exposure to air pollution can shorten lives by 1.8 years (Gregory, 2025)
• WHO estimates that over 70% of cities and towns in the United Kingdom have unsafe levels of PM2.5 (Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists, 2022)
• Rollout of the new NHS App will provide patients more tailored health information and treatment preferences (NHS England, 2025)
  
  • This may give people a reliable way of learning about the adverse effects of air pollution and how they contribute to poor health outcomes
• Healthy Air Coalition outlines report outlining policy considerations for a new Clean Air Act (Healthy Air Coalition, 2025):
  
  • Strengthen clean air regulatory framework
  • Transition to clean home heating
  • Reduce car reliance and promote clean transport options
  • Clean up polluting practices in farming and other industries
• PM2.5 has the highest cost to society and to the NHS of any pollutant (Healthy Air Coalition, 2025)
  
  • PM2.5 and NO2 are the two pollutants of the most concern in the UK
• More than 1 in 20 adult deaths in London in 2023 caused by air pollution (Hawksworth et al., 2025)
  
  • Among the 30+ London cohort, Defra attributed 6.2% of deaths to PM pollution
  • Across England, the number of attributable cohort deaths was 5.2%
  • Average London PM concentration: 8.3 micrograms per cubic metre of air
  • Average England concentration: 7 micrograms per cubic metre of air
• 38,000 deaths a year in England linked to dirty air (Vaughan, 2024)
• Dr. Kirsty Pringle developed air quality stripes to visually measure the concentration of PM2.5 across cities (Ranscombe, 2025)
  
  • Came after Ed Hawkins created climate stripes
• Met Office combines knowledge of pollutant emissions with meteorological data and chemical evolution to predict atmospheric concentrations of particles (Met Office, 2025)
  
  • Climate Science for Service Partnership China (CSSP China) and World Climate Research Programme’s Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6) contributions

Nottingham

• Air quality index read that levels were as bad as in Baghdad (7 out of 10 scale) (Moldoveanu, 2025)
  
  • Professor Hall said: “I tell my patients that if the air quality is bad and they want to go for a run, for example, do it in Wollaton Park, not along a main road. “People can manage to potentially lower their exposure within their local geography by altering their activities.”(Moldoveanu, 2025)
  • Weather influences pollution, e.g. changing winds can make previously clear routes suddenly unhealthy (Moldoveanu, 2025)

London

• History (Green, 2025):
  
  • Pre-1800s: pollution stemmed from burning of wood and sea coal in homes that mixed with natural mist
  • During and post-1800s (Smog): industrialization and coal emissions caused dense, thick smog to block the sun and made people sick, got a bit better following adoption of gas heating, electric motors, and industry relocation
  • 1952 (Great Smog of London): super thick smog lasted for 5 days and killed between 4000-12000 people
  • Legislation: Clean Air Act of 1956, Clean Air Act of 1968, Breathe London, ultra low emission zones
• Airly became official tech partner of Breathe London in 2025, with £2.8 million being invested to scale pollution sensors across the city to track PM2.5, PM10, NO₂ and O₃ for 4 years (Malaczek, 2025)
• London has the largest electric bus fleet.  Mayor of London aiming for net zero by 2030 (Smart Cities World, 2024)
• 33.7% of electric vehicle charging points are located in London (link)
• Mayor of London: London air quality has improved dramatically since 2016, with less Londoners living above the legal limit of air pollutants.  NO2 has decreased by 50%, there are 51 fewer NO2 monitoring stations above the legal limit.  The ULEZ led to 2023 being the first year PM2.5 was under WHO target.  The aim is for neutral or positive air quality (Mayor of London, 2024)
• Quadruple size of cycle network in London since 2016 (Mayor of London, 2024)
• London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) is lowering emissions.  NOx estimated to be reduced by 13% and PM2.5 by 22% (Smart Cities World, 2024)
• Hammersmith and Fulham Council wish to create a new by-law that prevents residents from burning household or garden waste outside at commercial sites, allotments, and private gardens to reduce PM creation and exposure (Butler, 2025)
  
  • Private wood burners found to have contributed to the most severe cases of recent winter smog episodes

Bradford ​

• Bradford’s clean air zone reduced air pollution and saved the health service about £30,700 per month in its first year. (Fuller, 2025)
  
  • Clean air zones are often controversial, as seen with London’s ultra-low emission zone expansion.
  • Over 300 low emission zones operate in the UK and Europe, but fewer studies assess their health impact.
  • Bradford’s zone, the second largest in England (22.4 sq km), charges older, more polluting vehicles.
  • 20% of Bradford’s population lives within the zone, primarily lower-income residents who are more vulnerable to poor health.
  • Study of nearly 200,000 medical visits found:
    
    • 25% drop in GP visits for respiratory illnesses.
    • 24% drop in GP visits for heart problems.
    • 732 fewer medical visits per month compared to pre-Covid levels.
  • Emergency visits for breathing issues declined, but no significant change in cardiovascular cases.
  • Health benefits extended beyond the zone, likely due to vehicle upgrades reducing pollution citywide.
  • Bradford now has the UK’s cleanest taxi fleet due to the clean air plan.

Manchester

• Greater Manchester had the highest proportion of children being hospitalised for asthma (Day, 2025)
  
  • In the under-18 age range, there was a 13% rise in the number of hospitalisation cases
  • In the under-3s age range, there was a 33% rise in the number of hospitalisation cases
• 468,000 diesel vehicles in Greater Manchester (Day, 2025)
• Defra figures show that the area has the highest NO2 levels in the country (Day, 2025)
  
  • Annual mean concentration of  55μg m³ compared to UK’s limit of 40μg m³
  • NO2 levels have risen 6% in the area since 2021