Leeds revoke five Air Quality Management Areas

Leeds City Council has now formally revoked five of its Air Quality Management Areas, which were initially declared between 2001 and 2017,  for exceeding the annual average of nitrogen dioxide.

The council has implemented a number of schemes over recent years to tackle pollution from homes, transport and businesses as part of the Air Quality Strategy Plan.

The Plan included such projects as the Leeds PIPES district heating network which continues to be a strategic priority for the council. The Recycling and Energy Recovery Facility now provides low carbon heat to around 1,900 council tenants in Multi-Storey Flats and 26 buildings which include commercial customers as well as the council’s own buildings in the Civic Quarter of the city. 

The Council has been working with – and will continue to work with – academics from Universities such as Leeds Becketts University and the University of Leeds.

Dr Jim McQuaid, from the latter has been working with Leeds City Council and with funding from Research England, is developing a hyperlocal air quality mapping system, allowing people in Leeds to see air quality at very local levels based on the readings from low-cost sensors around the district.

The network uses the PurpleAir.com web platform to show levels of PM2.5 pollution across the city, with traffic light colour coding alerting people to the level of risk they might face.

Dr McQuaid, who advises Leeds’ air-quality and health board, said: ‘The map shows in real-time the distribution of PM2.5 pollution. It might show some areas’ levels of particulate pollution linked to wood burners. In other districts, you might find people are still burning coal fires.’

The Purple Air Project includes the installation of 40 sensors at locations such as schools, which assist with understanding of impacts on vulnerable groups. 

Air quality in the centre of Leeds has also been improved by the closure of City Square to general traffic, improving the main gateway to the city from the railway station, prioritising public transport and creating public spaces.

Monitoring of city centre travel habits between 2022 and 2023 has shown a 10% reduction in the use of private cars, with bus, rail, walking and cycling all increasing. Early and provisional monitoring indicates significant improvement in air quality.