Background
Since 1993 the London Air Quality Network of King's College London has coordinated the monitoring of air pollution across 30 London boroughs and Heathrow, and has noted that in 2005–06 almost all road and curbside monitoring sites across greater London exceeded the annual average limits for nitrogen dioxide of 40 μgm-3 (21 ppb), with eleven sites exceeding the hourly limits of 200 μgm-3 (105 ppb) on at least 18 occasions each.
In 2000 one measuring site exceeded EU limits for air pollution, pollution rose for two years prior to 2007. The Green Party report that nine sites in London exceed the EU limits for air pollution in 2007 (up was one in 2002). The A23 at Brixton suffered the most consistently high levels for more than two-fifths of the period. Carbon monoxide levels had however reduced rapidly during the late 1990s and been relatively stable since 2002.
In 2007 Transport for London (TfL) estimated that there were 1,000 premature deaths and a further 1,000 hospital admissions annually due to poor air quality from all causes.
Read more about this topic: London Low Emission Zone, History
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