Air quality

Air pollution is associated with a number of adverse health conditions. It is recognised as a contributing factor in the onset of heart disease and cancer. Long-term air pollution exposure causes 36,000 early deaths each year in the United Kingdom, and 4,100 in London.

We are all at risk from air pollution, but children, older people, pregnant women, and people with existing health conditions are more vulnerable than others.

The annual health costs to society due to air pollution in the UK is estimated to be £15 billion. We are committed to reducing the exposure of people in Croydon to poor air quality in order to improve health.

Pollution in Croydon comes from a variety of sources, some of it from outside of the borough and, in the case of particulate matter,  outside of London and even the UK. 

The most recent research shows that of the pollution that originates in the borough, the main sources of NO2 are road transport at 60%, with domestic and commercial gas heating at 26.20%, and Non-Road Mobile Machinery(NRMM)  at 6.5%.

The main sources of particulate matter are road transport at 55.8%, resuspension at 27.3% and 5.9% from NRMM

Th following pages explain more about about air quality and how we measure it.

See also what Croydon is doing to improve air quality to protect everyone’s health.