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“Significant air pollution” on Sidmouth’s High Street

  • by JW

“Virtually every home in the UK is subjected to air pollution above World Health Organization guidelines, according to the most detailed map of dirty air to date.”

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During lockdown, all sorts of things happened to our environment:

How has a year of lockdown changed our environment? – Vision Group for Sidmouth

But the picture of how it impacted air pollution was rather mixed:

Dramatic drops in air pollution – Vision Group for Sidmouth

Covid has had little impact on carbon emissions – Vision Group for Sidmouth

What is clear is that the government could be doing much more:

Failing to protect us from air pollution – Vision Group for Sidmouth

Last month, promises were made – but many would say these were woefully inadequate:

The government has proposed to set air quality limits that would allow twice as much small-particle pollution in England as the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends as an upper limit, and that would not be met for almost 20 years.
The new target is to reduce levels of fine particulate matter, known as PM2.5, to 10 micrograms per cubic metre by 2040, in contrast to WHO guidelines, updated last September, that say concentrations of PM2.5 should not exceed 5 micrograms per cubic metre on average over a year.
The government said the proposal would reduce exposure to fine particulates – the air pollutant most harmful to human health – by more than a third compared with 2018 levels in England. However, campaigners said the measure was inadequate and would continue to leave millions of people exposed to dangerously dirty air.

Proposed air pollution limit in England is twice as high as WHO recommends | Environment | The Guardian

This week, research shows how bad it really is:

Virtually every home in the UK is subjected to air pollution above World Health Organization guidelines, according to the most detailed map of dirty air to date.
More than 97% of addresses exceed WHO limits for at least one of three key pollutants, while 70% of addresses breach WHO limits for all three.
The map, produced by the non-profit group the Central Office of Public Interest (Copi) and Imperial College London, combined 20,000 measurements with computer modelling to produce pollution estimates every 20 metres across the country. People can check their address at the website addresspollution.org for free.

Dirty air affects 97% of UK homes, data shows | Air pollution | The Guardian

Going to addresspollution.org, it is clear that certain streets in Sidmouth are subject to high levels of air pollution:

Temple St, Sidmouth, EX10 9AY

Medium Air Pollution

EXCEEDS THREE W.H.O. LIMITS

https://www.addresspollution.org/results/54c45280-3849-433e-9243-301653e25432

Sidmouth Self Serve, 6-10 Woolbrook Road, SIDMOUTH, EX10 9UU

Low Air Pollution

Sidmouth Methodist Church, High Street, SIDMOUTH, EX10 8LE

SIGNIFICANT AIR POLLUTION

EXCEEDS THREE W.H.O. LIMITS

https://www.addresspollution.org/results/dac6d951-573e-4aff-bcff-9d773e6288e6

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