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Air quality

Trends in concentrations of air pollutants at North East sites

Net Zero Newcastle Sunderland
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Air pollutants in the North East 2023

Annual air quality data provides information on the concentrations of major air pollutants, as measured by monitoring stations in the Automatic Urban and Rural Network (AURN). There are four such stations in the North East combined authority area, two each in Newcastle and Sunderland. However they do not all collect data for each pollutant.

The latest data shows that:

  • There were, respectively, seven and five days of moderate or higher air pollution at the Sunderland and Newcastle urban background monitoring sites in 2023
  • there were none at the Newcastle roadside monitor site. All three totals were below the national average for urban sites
  • nitrogen dioxide concentrations in both Newcastle and Sunderland were higher in roadside locations than in urban background monitoring sites, the same was true nationally
  • nitrogen dioxide concentrations in Newcastle in 2023 were higher than the national average, with concentrations in Sunderland being lower
  • ozone concentrations were similar in Sunderland to the national average, with concentrations in Newcastle being lower
  • particulate matter (PM10) concentrations in Newcastle and Sunderland were lower than the national average
  • both within the North East and nationally, roadside PM10 concentrations were higher than those for urban background sites
  • particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations in Newcastle and Sunderland were both lower than the national average.

Trends over time

  • Background nitrogen dioxide concentrations in Newcastle and Sunderland in 2023 were both about a third lower than a decade earlier but these decreases were smaller than the decrease in the national average
  • the falls in nitrogen dioxide concentrations at North East roadside sites over the decade were similar to that for the national average
  • background ozone concentrations in Newcastle increased slightly over the latest decade, with the Sunderland equivalent falling slightly and the national average increasing more noticeably
  • recent percentage decreases in background PM10 concentrations at North East sites have been smaller than nationally
  • roadside PM10 concentrations in Newcastle have decreased by a similar percentage to the national average over the five years for which data exists
  • background PM2.5 concentrations have decreased by about 40% in the North East in the most recent decade, a similar decrease to that of the national average..