How Polluted is Reading's Air?

Generally the air in Reading is fairly clean, because we don’t have any large-scale heavy industry in the borough. However, as with most other major towns and cities across Europe, we do suffer with the impacts of traffic congestion and the associated emissions.

In Reading we have ‘hotspot’ areas where there are elevated levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2).

The Environmental Protection Team have been monitoring pollution levels in Reading since 1996, and monitoring has shown that although the levels of most pollutants are well below recommended levels, in some areas NO2 is exceeding the recommended annual mean.

Because of this level of exceedance Reading has declared an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) and implemented an action plan to try to reduce the pollution.

Over 220 local authorities have declared AQMAs, the vast majority due to nitrogen dioxide levels.

Use the links at the top left of the page to find out more information about air quality in Reading.