The best and worst in England air quality named

New government figures have revealed that the London borough of Hillingdon has seen England's largest increase in premature deaths that are associated with air pollution. The number of deaths recorded in the area that are associated with air quality rose from 6.5 per cent in 2010 to 6.86 per cent in 2011.

Although Hillingdon was the worst small area in terms of air pollution death, London as a whole remained the worst larger area in England. According to the latest figures, of the total number of deaths that occur in the city, 8.94 per cent are related to air quality. Although this is an improvement from the figure of nine per cent that was recorded in 2010, a large percentage of people in the capital are still being affected by particulate matter.

While the city showed improvement overall, an increase in the number of deaths that are related to airborne particulate matter actually increased between 2010 and 2011 in 15 of the city's 33 boroughs. This shows that more work is still needed to be done to reduce air pollution in key areas of the London in order to lessen the risk to human health.

While the overall percentage of deaths being attributed to air quality fell throughout England as a whole - decreasing from 5.6 per cent in 2010 to 5.36 per cent in 2011 - some areas did see an overall increase. Hertfordshire was the second worst area in terms of air pollution deaths, with figures rising from 5.8 per cent in 2010 to 6.05 per cent in 2011.

Simon Birkett, founder and director of Clean Air in London, said: “It is shocking to discover late in the ‘Year of Air’, and nearly six years into the mayor’s term of office, that human-made air pollution (PM2.5) killed more people in 15 London boroughs in 2011 than 2010 and far more than ten times the number dying from road traffic accidents."

However, many areas of England saw a vast improvement. Blackpool, the Wirral, Sandwell and Sunderland were amongst those in the top five areas to see improvements, with Gateshead taking the top spot after air pollution deaths decreased to 4.18 per cent.