‘Air pollution is the United Kingdom’s biggest environmental health threat’

• I CAN only assume that your correspondent Marcia MacLeod has no children, grandchildren, family or friends with breathing difficulties due to air pollution, (That’s life, on and off the allotment, August 31).

But, rather than argue with her, and discussing how she is “saving the planet” by frequently driving her old polluting car to and from her allotment – via garden centres, shops and anywhere else she might like to go – I would like to return to the basic facts.

About 5,100 Londoners died in 2019 (almost 10 a week) as a result of exposure to toxic air, according to IQ Air, a technology partner of the United Nations.

And ULEZ, the ultra-low emission zone regulations, will lead to a significant reduction in the number of people living in areas of poor air quality: by 72 per cent in central London and 54 per cent London wide.

The Environment Research Group, ERG, at Imperial College London found that in 2019, in Greater London, the equivalent of between 3,600 to 4,100 deaths were estimated to be attributable to anthropogenic (human-made) particles and nitrogen dioxide. And if that’s not enough to convince her: most of these deaths occur among older age groups.

But the problem is bigger even than that: air pollution is the United Kingdom’s biggest environmental health threat, with outdoor pollutants estimated to contribute towards 40,000 excess premature deaths per year, costing the UK economy upwards of £20billion annually.

And most of this pollution is caused by road transport and domestic and commercial heating systems.

Cars must go, starting with the old and highly polluting ones. Now.

DAVID REED
Eton Avenue, NW3