Health & Beauty
Dieselgate judgment due
New short film shows children smoking ‘diesel vapes’ to expose the hidden health cost of Dieselgate.
10 July 2026
Action led by local and regional authorities to clean up England’s polluted air prevented an estimated 13,722 deaths between 2019 and 2025 and avoided around £15 billion in damage to health and the economy, according to new research launched at UK100’s tenth anniversary conference, Breathing Life: A Decade of Local Air Quality Ambition, in Westminster.
The report is the first to isolate and quantify the health and economic value of air quality improvement that can be credited specifically to local authority action.
The 13,722 lives saved between 2019 and 2025 is equivalent to a town roughly the size of Berwick-upon-Tweed.
Using the government’s preferred approach for valuing the full range of health and productivity benefits, that same improvement is worth around £15 billion – money not spent on hospital admissions, GP appointments and lost working days, and value returned to the wider economy.
‘For years, the story of air pollution has understandably been told through the harm it does. What this research shows, for the first time, is the other side of the ledger: how local leaders, working together, have helped prevent almost 14,000 unnecessary and untimely deaths and saved around £15 billion by getting on and creating better places to live in.
‘These interventions haven’t always been welcomed initially, but with time have become accepted and loved by communities. The difference made by those leaders, both past and present, is a record to be proud of. But with the rollout of devolution and local government reorganisation, the local-national coordination will be critical to keeping up the momentum and improving the lives of thousands more in towns and cities across England.’CHRISTOPHER HAMMOND
Chief executive of UK100
The research finds that local action currently accounts for around 35% of England’s air quality improvement, with the rest driven by national action. If new and existing strategic and regional authorities were empowered and resourced to make fuller use of the powers they already hold, over transport, planning, buses, housing and public health, that share could rise to 45%.
Over the same 2019 to 2025 period, stronger local leadership could have saved an estimated 3,900 additional lives and delivered £2.4 billion in further benefit. The report describes this gap as ‘the real-world cost of the governance and funding gaps’. The report sets out a practical framework for closing it as devolution reshapes local government over the next decade.
‘When I founded UK100 a decade ago, the idea was simple: local leaders, whatever their party, could achieve more on clean air and climate by working together than apart.Ten years on, that network has grown to more than 120 local and strategic authorities, covering over 60 per cent of the country.This latest research shows what that cross-party ambition has delivered — almost 14,000 lives saved through practical action on air pollution.The job isn’t done, but it is a record to be proud of, and a foundation to build on through further devolution and a new generation of political leadership supported by a growing UK100 entering its next decade.’
POLLY BILLINGTON MP
Founder of UK100
The report stresses that the headline figures are the sum of thousands of local decisions taken by authorities of every political stripe. The report draws on case studies including London, Bath and North East Somerset, Greater Manchester, Oxford, Nottingham and Hertfordshire.
Nowhere is the shift clearer than in London. New analysis published last month estimates that deaths linked to air pollution in the capital have fallen by around 40% over the five years from 2019, with roadside nitrogen dioxide down 41% and fine particulate pollution down 28%.
Transport for London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), now covering all London boroughs, has kept roadside nitrogen dioxide around 27% lower than it would otherwise have been.
‘London shows what is possible when a major city decides to clean up its air. The world’s largest clean air zone of its kind, cleaner buses and bold borough-level action have together cut nitrogen dioxide far faster than the experts predicted, and the capital’s air is now measurably cleaner and safer to breathe. But none of this happened by accident — it took political will and a refusal to accept dirty air as an inevitability. As we mark a decade of progress, my message to other leaders is simple: ambition works, and the next decade must be bolder still. This is how we are building a better and greener London for everyone.’
METE COBAN MBE
Deputy Mayor of London for Environment and Energy
To support authorities to go further, the report proposes a Regional Clean Air Leadership Model. The practical, seven-layer framework that strategic authorities can adopt is designed to embed clean air across transport, planning, housing and public health, and ensure mayors are ready to use new powers from the moment they arrive.
The report sets out three calls to action for new and existing strategic authorities — practical steps that need no new legislation.
Significant under-use of existing statutory tools is common. Authorities should review how fully they are using the hard powers they already hold, from Traffic Regulation Orders and smoke control designations to clean air zone feasibility, bus franchising and Local Air Quality Management partnerships, to understand what is and is not being used effectively for clean air.
Authorities should also prepare now for the governance changes coming down the pipeline. The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026, the Bus Services Act 2025, the Local Outcomes Framework and updated guidance all require internal capacity, governance structures and partnership frameworks.
Finally, cross-governance coordination must be treated as essential to delivery, not an optional extra. No single tier of government holds all the powers needed to deliver clean air. Breaking down internal silos and building joint governance structures, shared evidence bases, pooled resources and political alignment is a structural requirement of the English clean air system, not a nice-to-have.
The report also sets out three asks of national government to build on a decade of local progress.
A new Clean Air Act with World Health Organization-aligned statutory targets, giving local and strategic authorities the legal clarity to plan and deliver — with the cross-party Clean Air (Human Rights) Bill (Ella’s Law) offering a ready vehicle.
A long-term, consolidated clean air funding settlement that reflects the full monetised value of local action and lets authorities plan sustained delivery.
A national indoor air quality strategy, clarifying responsibility across housing, transport and planning for the air people breathe inside their homes, schools and workplaces.
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