Bad air days of London's pollution hot spots

Nine areas have already breached the number of "bad air" days permitted by European Union regulators.

The pollution hotspots include Horn Lane in Ealing, Brixton Road in Lambeth and Neasden Lane in Brent. The 10 worst offenders also include Shaftesbury Avenue, which is expected to breach targets by the year's end.

Campaigners warn that the capital is heading for a record year for air pollution caused by diesel exhaust fumes. The Green Party says this will lead to increased deaths and health problems such as asthma and strokes.

The Evening Standard has learned that ministers are so concerned about the health implications they are to commission an inquiry by the Department of Health's pollution committee into the impact of dirty air on life expectancy and heart problems. There are more than 1,000 premature deaths every year because of poor air quality.

Under agreed EU limits, no site must breach traffic emission limits for more than 35 days in any year. But the new figures from King's College London's air quality unit show that Horn Lane, for example, has already soared above acceptable levels.

In the year to September 2007, air quality limits were measured as poor on 133 days, nearly four times the legal limit. Neasden Lane was also an offender. Air monitoring experts found the site breached legal levels 108 times so far this year.

The number of site breaches is already set to exceed last year's high of 11. This compares with 2005 when eight sites breached the approved targets.

Simon Birkett, from the Campaign for Clean Air in London, said: "The biggest concern is that legal limits have been in place for nearly a decade and yet we are still not meeting them. We need fewer vehicles and cleaner ones."