The numbers have been crunched and the councils ranked in terms of how easy it is for citizens to breathe. With one clear regional winner.
Overall, southern England, and the South East in particular, were found to have made the biggest strides in terms of air quality improvement. Portsmouth came out on top, followed by Brighton & Hove, Medway, and Barking & Dagenham.
Ardur finished fifth, with nearby Worthing, Eastbourne and Hastings following in sixth, seventh, and eighth. London boroughs Waltham Forest and Newham rounded out the top 10 in the research, which was conducted by EV charge giant Believ.
‘Even reducing NO2 and PM2.5 particles by 1 µg/m³ improves survival and morbidity from chronic non-communicable diseases, but The Royal College of Physicians (RFC) report finds there is no safe level of air pollution,’ said Professor Stephen Holgate, Professor of Immunopharmacology from the University of Southampton.
‘There have been significant air quality improvements in Brighton & Hove, and we remain focused on further substantial progress. PM2.5 is a major environmental risk to the health of our residents, with transport and domestic burning of solid fuels being the primary contributors,’ said Councillor Trevor Muten, Cabinet member for Transport and City Infrastructure.
‘We’re proud to have the best public EV charging coverage anywhere outside London and have plans for thousands more in the coming years. This will help us continue our drive to reduce both greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution,’ he continued. We remain ambitious in this policy area, and we are working towards the WHO target of 5 µg/m³. Our main focus for transport is cleaner tailpipes and options to reduce car miles. We have recently taken steps to reduce pollution from domestic burning, including expanding our Smoke Control Areas to cover the whole urban area from winter 2026. Together with our continued expansion of EV charging, we’re going to improve the air quality and health of our city.’
Image: Young Jeffrey / Unsplash
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