More than 97% of addresses exceed WHO limits for at least one of the three major pollutants, while 70% of addresses exceed WHO limits for all three. The map, produced by the nonprofit Central Office of Public Interest (Copi) and Imperial College London, combined 20,000 measurements with computational modeling to generate pollution estimates every 20 meters across the country. People can check their address at addresspollution.org for free. The site also ranks each address in relation to national pollution levels. For example, Buckingham Palace in London is in the 98th percentile, with very polluted air, while Balmoral Castle in Scotland is in the zero percent, with the cleanest air. The towns and cities with the highest percentage of housing in the top 10% of the most polluted nationally are Slough in Berkshire, with 90%, followed by London with 66%. Others in the top 10 are Portsmouth, Leeds, Manchester and Reading. Chart showing the percentage of homes in the 10 most polluted locations Copi is requesting a legal requirement to disclose air pollution data to home buyers and tenants, as is already the case with asbestos, for example. “Air pollution affects us all. “With this new accurate data now available to the public, it would be a shame for the real estate industry not to act transparently – lives depend on it,” said Humphrey Milles, founder of Copi, which promotes public awareness campaigns for issues that he says are neglected. from the government. The WHO sharply lowered its air pollution guidelines in September to reflect growing scientific evidence of toxic air damage. A 2019 review concluded that air pollution can damage any organ in the body, causing at least 7 million premature deaths annually worldwide and around 40,000 in the United Kingdom. The WHO says air pollution is the biggest environmental threat to human health and is an emergency for public health. The UK legal limit for nitrogen dioxide is four times higher than the new WHO limit, but it is still not met in most urban areas. The legal country limit for microparticles smaller than 2.5 microns (PM2.5) is five times higher than the WHO limit, while the UK limit for PM10 is 2.7 times higher. Pollution activist Rosamund Kissi-Debrah said: “These new data show once again that the government is failing the British public. Now people can really see the dirty air they breathe in the direction of their home, school or work. “Everyone needs to know what they are breathing and now with this new public service they can.” Kissi-Debrah’s nine-year-old daughter, Ella, died in 2013 and the medical examiner’s decision later cited air pollution as the cause of death. The medical examiner then issued a formal “report on the prevention of future deaths” in April 2021, which said: “Greater awareness [of air pollution] would help people reduce their personal exposure to air pollution. “Disclosure of this information is an issue that needs to be addressed by both the national and local governments.” Professor Sir Stephen Holgate, an expert on air pollution at the Royal College of Physicians, said: “Air pollution is an invisible killer and it is easy for people to forget and ignore. It is important to give the public air pollution data about where they are thinking of buying or renting. In many cases, like that of little Ella, it can be a matter of life or death. “ Rebecca Marsh, the UK Property Broker, said: “Air pollution is a piece of information that all consumers need to know before deciding on a particular property. Undoubtedly, this is essential information that must be provided by all sellers or owners. “ The map shows the average annual pollution levels for 2019, the last year unaffected by Covid-19 lockdowns and travel restrictions. Even with the use of the previous WHO Higher Guidelines, 55% of UK addresses would still violate the limit for at least one of the three pollutants. Sean Beevers, a researcher at Imperial College, said: “It’s not just a London problem, so people need to think more about air pollution. “What used to be considered reasonable levels has now been thrown out the window.” Beevers said, however, that the models were not perfect and warned that they would not see parts with slightly higher air pollution ratings as necessarily worse than nearby parts with slightly lower levels of pollution.
