What we are doing about air pollution

Find out what steps we are taking to reduce air pollution emissions in Leeds.

We’re committed to reducing Leeds’ emissions to protect the health of everyone in the city.

Improving the city’s air quality is expected to help save lives, boost productivity, cut carbon emissions and help level up the most disadvantaged communities.

Our plan

Our plan includes actions to tackle air pollution from transport, home, industry and agriculture. We will also work with the health and care sector to ensure that the most vulnerable residents understand how best to protect themselves from pollutants.

Vehicles

We’ll clean transport, support zero emission vehicles and make buses better by:

• switching the council's own vehicles to electric, including bin lorries
• installing new bus lanes, smart bus stops and park and ride services as part of our Connecting Leeds programme
• improving charging infrastructure for plug-in vehicles in public and private car parks

Active travel

We’ll promote pollution-free healthier ways to travel by:

• introducing a public bike share scheme
• installing new cycle lanes to make biking even safer as part of our Connecting Leeds programme
  
• working with schools to promote active travel

Health

We’ll work with the health and care sector to help protect residents, especially those must vulnerable by:

• raising awareness of how we can all protect ourselves from the health impacts of air pollution
• working with doctors across Leeds to provide information and advice to at-risk patients
• facilitating workshops, webinars and accredited conferences for medical and public health professionals to improve their understanding of the risks and impacts of air pollution

Homes

We’ll help tackle air pollution from and in homes by:

• requiring any new developments to be greener and better ventilated
• upgrading existing homes with energy saving measures as part of our Better Homes Leeds external link work and investment in council housing
• raising awareness of the pollution caused by boilers, stoves and fireplaces

Businesses

We’ll also work with businesses to better understand industrial and agricultural sources of emissions so that these too can be reduced through engagement, regulation and enforcement.