Todays Air Quality In Liverpool

Here is todays air quality in Liverpool along with monitoring data and information about the current and historic levels of air pollution.

What have the air pollution levels been in Liverpool 2024

The weather has the biggest influence on NO2 concentrations in the short term and the weather in January 2024 and February 2024 was relatively cold. Therefore, the monthly average nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentrations have remained high between January and February 2024.. Warmer weather in spring and summer results in NO2 levels decreasing slightly. The pollution levels then increased again from September 2024 as the weather got cooler

The legal limit for NO2 is 40 µg/m3 when averaged over one year. The sites at Edge Lane, Speke Road, Everton Valley, Clayton Square and the Speke AURN are all significantly below this limit so far in 2024.  They were also below this limit in 2023. The site at Lime Street was only slightly below the legal limit 2023. This is probably due to the large amounts of traffic at this busy city centre location..

At Walton Vale and Lime St, the monthly averages for 2024 are currently above the annual limit value for NO2. This is likely due to the large amounts of traffic at these location. Liverpool City Council is aware that air pollution is a problem in Walton Vale and this is currently being addressed by the Liverpool Clean Air Plan.

May 2024 was the first month that the automatic monitoring station at Hunter St was active and therefore there is no data for January to April. The Pembroke Place Monitoring Station was installed in August 2024 and therefore there is no data for the first half of the year. Both of these sites appear to be exceeding the annual limit for NO2 . 

The table below shows the nitrogen dioxide concentrations in microgrammes per metre cubed (µg/m3)

Location 2023 annual mean Jan 2024 Feb 2024 Mar 2024 Apr 2024 May 2024 June 2024 July 2024 Aug 2024 Sep 2024 Oct 2024 Nov 2024 Dec 2024

2024 running mean

(to 26/12/24)

Edge Lane 27.3 30.3 26.9 24.8 24.4 25.5 18.7 20.9 15.0 29.5 24.1     24..0
Speke Road 26.1 32.8 30.2 23.7 21.4 25.6 N/A 21.7 17.9 28.0 26.7     25.5
Everton Valley 28.0 34.4 32.5 28.3 21.8 24.8 17..6 21.0 20.5 24.5 24.0     25.1
Lime  Street 39.8 49.8 54.8 44.1 43.5 50.5 50.8 51.0 42.0 58.2 43.8     48.9
Clayton Sq 21.8 25.5 23.5 21.4 16.3 19.3 12.2 15.5 13.2 29.5 24.1     19.3
Walton Vale 47.7 61.6 58.5 42.2 41.4 41.9 37.9 39.6 36.9 41.7 45.3 40.0 32.7 43.5
Hunter St NA NA NA NA NA 38.3 28.7 32.2 29.3 40.9 41.2 43.4 36.8 36.2
Pembroke Place NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA 35.5 56.8 47.1 55.3 48.6 NA
Speke AURN 14. 19.0 14.9 12.6 9.8 12.4 7.8 9.6 8.1 14.7 12.8 18.7 15.1 12.8
Why is pollution often classified as low everywhere?

Often air pollution levels in most areas of Liverpool are sufficiently small to be classified as low according to the Air Quality Index. When this index was created these levels were considered unlikely to cause any adverse health effects. There is currently debate about whether there is any safe level for these pollutants and the Air Quality Index may be revised in the future. Liverpool City Council do not believe that the Air Quality Index is the best way to classify air pollution level but we have included it on this website because it is used at a national level and by other local authorities