8,000 schools have air pollution higher than the World Health Organisation limit

(PA)

One in four British pupils attend schools where air pollution exceeds the World Health Organisation limit, a report has found.

Analysis by charity Global Action Plan (Gap) concluded that levels of the pollutant PM2.5 are too high at almost 8,000 schools, representing 3.4 million pupils, across the country, from nurseries to sixth form colleges.

The WHO say that PM2.5 is the most serious pollutant for human health and that it shouldn’t reach an annual average limit of more than 10 micrograms per cubic metre.

The tiny particles can enter the bloodstream and lodge in the lungs and other organs and cause health problems. The legal limit is 25 micrograms per cubic metre in the UK.

Using 2019 data from air quality company EarthSense, Gap found that the greatest number of polluted schools were concentrated in London and the South East.

But there were also nearly 300 schools in Manchester with postcodes from M1 to M9 where PM2.5 levels exceeded the WHO’s limit, and a similar figure in the Portsmouth postcodes PO1 to PO9.

In Leicester and Ipswich, meanwhile, there were more than 200 affected schools in the first nine postcodes.

Setting out its Clean Air Strategy in 2019, the government promised to reduce PM2.5 levels across the UK so that the number of people living in areas where it exceeds WHO guidelines is cut 50 per cent by 2025.

They plan to launch a consultation on a new PM2.5 target early next year and enshrine it into law by October 2022, according to The Guardian. The WHO are also considering lowering their limit, the New Scientist report.

Unclean air can be deadly. Last year, air pollution was recognised as a cause of death in the UK for the first time after an inquest into the death of Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah. The nine year old died in 2013 after a severe asthma attack.

Air pollution is responsible for thousands of deaths in the UK. Studies suggest that between 28,000 and 36,000 people die each year in the country because of it.

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More than one quarter of UK schools are in areas above global pollution limits, charity finds