Air Quality Action Plan
Like many towns and cities throughout the UK, roadside pollution levels, especially those resulting from Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) emissions from traffic, and Particulate Matter (PM), are a concern. NO2 levels measured across various roadside locations in Coventry have been improving. However, poor air quality affects different communities disproportionately.
Some areas in Coventry do not achieve current EU and international standards and the city has been directed by Government to reduce roadside nitrogen dioxide levels across the city to ensure compliance with the legal threshold of 40 ug/m3.
‘Diffusion tubes’ are deployed to measure levels at various roadside locations in Coventry and in 2023 around 70 locations were measured. Of these only one slightly exceed the legal limit of an annual mean concentration of 40 µg/m3. This was located on Holyhead Road, the area where the highest measurements have consistently been recorded over the last 10 years.
In general, across all locations that have taken measurements, including the areas that have consistently seen the highest levels, annual mean levels on NO2 have been falling as a trend. The 2023 monitoring therefore shows that action taken to promote cycling as an alternative mode of travel to car for local journeys, and measures to decarbonise the transport network, have contributed to generally reducing levels of NO2.
Furthermore, works were completed in Autumn 2023 to improve traffic flows at Spon End and Ring Road Junction 7, aimed at removing a congestion pinch-point on this alternative route to Holyhead Road. It is expected that this will help to better balance traffic flows between the Holyhead Road and Spon End routes into the city centre, further reducing levels of air pollution on Holyhead Road – the only location that still remained above the legal threshold in 2023.
It should also be noted that the World Health Organizations' former guideline level for annual nitrogen dioxide up to September 2021 was also 40 µg/m3. However, a more stringent 10 µg/m3 limit has since been introduced with the increasing recognition of the hazards of air pollution. None of the sites measured in 2023 had an annual mean of less than 10 µg/m3, meaning that no location of measurement in Coventry meets these, higher standards.
More detailed information about current and historic mean annual NO2 levels across Coventry’s diffusion tube sites in can be found on the Council’s website. This shows the locations of sites that have annual mean concentrations of nitrogen dioxide of less than 30 microgram per cubic metre (µg/m3); those with concentrations between 30-39 µg/m3; and those exceeding 40 µg/m3.