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City Airwatch
Welcome to Brighton & Hove City Council's air quality webpages. These pages will provide information on air quality for Brighton & Hove, Air Quality information on pollutant types and health effects, Local Air Quality Management (LAQM) reports on air quality and much more.
In Brighton & Hove, the air quality is expected to meet air quality objectives with the exception of hourly and annual mean standards for Nitrogen Dioxide. In 2008 an expanded Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) was declared for this pollutant. One consolidated AQMA includes Central Brighton and Hove and the harbour at Portslade. The major polluting source in the city is from road traffic. Air Quality is a subject in the forefront of people's minds and to keep everybody informed of the levels of pollution, air quality bulletins are published daily (Monday to Friday) on the Virtual Brighton & Hove website.
The 'London Smogs' (or peasoupers) of the 1950's are thankfully a thing of the past. Pollution exceedances do occur. In the winter months winter smogs are formed due to temperature inversion weather conditions. Across the South of England, photochemical summer smogs occur resulting in high concentrations of low-level (tropospheric) ozone.
Glossary of terms can help decipher some of the phases used.
All of the pollutants monitored in the city can have health effects if in large enough concentrations. Although there is no evidence that pollution from road traffic causes asthma, poor air quality can bring on symptoms to those who have respiratory problems. This is why Brighton & Hove City Council will continue to monitor the air quality and issue warnings when the air quality is forecast to be poor enough to give possible problems.
Brighton & Hove City Council also regulates emissions to air from some industrial processes through the Local Authority Pollution Prevention Control (LAPPC) regime.