A quarter of children's sports grounds have harmful air

A report by the Air Team has found that more than a quarter of children’s sports grounds analysed in five UK cities have dangerous air pollution.

The Breathe GB study analysed air pollution levels at 94 training to find out whether EU and World Health Organization guidelines on NO2 and PM2.5 were being breached, and where.

The study found that more than a quarter (28%) of children’s sports grounds analysed have dangerous air pollution and 92% of sports grounds analysed in London breach WHO limits, while more than half (52) of the 92 sites coming close to, or hitting, the threshold for PM2.5.

Ridgeway Rovers, Harry Kane and David Beckham’s first football club has PM2.5 levels of 11, breaching WHO limits, while the running track where Mo Farah and Christine Ohuruogu once trained has illegal levels of NO2, 48, and dangerous levels of PM2.5, 13.  

Medical professionals have warned that air pollution is likely to impact children's “potential to train” for sport.

The Air Team is calling for the introduction of clean air zones in all of the UK’s major cities and for the government to adopt WHO-recommended levels of NO₂ and PM2.5 as a minimum by 2030.

Anella Wickenden from The Air Team said: “Lots of us worry about the impacts of air pollution on our children’s lungs but we might not think about how this affects their ability to play sport and stay fit.”