Breathing in polluted air affects our health and costs the NHS and our society billions of pounds each year. Air pollution is recognised as a contributing factor in the onset of heart disease and cancer and can cause a range of health impacts, including effects on lung function, exacerbation of asthma, increases in hospital admissions and mortality.

Air pollution particularly affects the most vulnerable in society, children, the elderly, and those with existing heart and lung conditions. Low-income communities are also disproportionately impacted by poor air quality, exacerbating health and social inequalities.

Air quality in the London Borough of Bexley has continued to improve over recent decades, although road traffic remains the principal source of local pollution. Nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and particulate matter (PM₁₀ and PM_2.5) are the pollutants of greatest concern due to their effects on human health, particularly for children, older people, and those with respiratory or cardiovascular conditions. Bexley maintains a comprehensive monitoring network comprising three urban background monitoring stations and one roadside station, all located within the borough-wide Air Quality Management Area (AQMA). Monitoring during 2025 showed that all measured concentrations were below the relevant national air quality objectives.

Monitoring results showed that air quality in Bexley remains good and continues to improve in the long term. Annual mean NO₂ concentrations in 2025 ranged from 14.6 μg/m³ at the BQ7 urban background site to 19.9 μg/m³ at the GB6 roadside site, all well below the objective of 40 μg/m³. No exceedances of the NO₂ hourly objective were recorded. PM₁₀ annual mean concentrations ranged from 14.0 to 18.7 μg/m³, while PM2.5 concentrations ranged from 8.9 to 9.8 μg/m³, all below their respective targets. The long-term monitoring record shows substantial reductions in both roadside and background pollutant concentrations, reflecting cleaner vehicles and tighter emission standards.

There has been a very significant reduction in both background and roadside NO₂ concentrations since the early 2000s. The increasingly small difference between roadside and background concentrations indicates that reductions in vehicle emissions, particularly oxides of nitrogen (NOx), are having a positive effect across the borough. While a small increase in NO₂, PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 concentrations was observed in 2025 compared with 2024, all pollutant levels remain substantially below air quality objectives and there is no evidence of any risk of non-compliance.

Table ES 1 provides a brief explanation of the key pollutants relevant to Local Air Quality Management and the kind of activities they might arise from.