Wealden District Council
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Air quality

The focus for outdoor air quality in the UK is on the prevention and minimisation of health effects on persons vulnerable to air pollution. Air pollution can cause short-term health effects in sensitive individuals (e.g. people who already suffer from heart disease or lung diseases, including asthma).

If your health is good, the air quality within Wealden is defined as good and you are therefore very unlikely to have any serious short-term effects. In areas where air quality is poor people with lung disease or heart conditions are at greater risk, especially if they are elderly. There is little evidence that air pollution itself causes asthma. However, if you already have asthma, you may find that high levels of air pollution can trigger an attack.

Monitoring air quality

All local authorities have a duty to review and assess air quality in their districts in order to establish if Air Quality Objectives are being, or are likely to be, exceeded.

Open fires and wood-burning stoves

The use of open fires and wood-burning stoves has risen in popularity over recent years.

Forecast alerts

The Environmental Research Group (ERG) at King’s College, London, collects all real time air quality measured by the automatic monitoring stations.

This data is analysed and compared with other monitoring results from across East and West Sussex and together with meteorological data, is used to forecast pollution episodes. This information also feeds into a regional annual report of the Sussex Air Quality Monitoring Network that covers the whole of East and West Sussex.

If you have a concern or enquiry about air quality please contact us through the reporting form. Please note, anonymous complaints cannot be processed.

Report air quality