Air quality

Data, reports and Bristol's plans for clean air.

Clean air is essential for health and helps to make the city a pleasant place to live. We monitor air quality around the city and are working to improve it.

Bristol's plan for clean air

Clean Air for Bristol Go to https://www.cleanairforbristol.org/ (opens new window) has information about  the Clean Air Zone proposals , air pollution and what causes it.

Follow @BCC_Clean_Air on twitter for the latest news and information on air pollution in Bristol.

Low Cost Air Pollution Sensors user guide

Read our pdf low cost air pollution guide(2.26 MB)  for individuals and organisations who are considering using low-cost air pollution sensors.

Air quality data

Local air quality data is available on Open Data Bristol.

National air quality data and pollution forecasts are available from Defra Go to http://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/ (opens new window).

Read about pdf health impacts of air pollution in Bristol(2.45 MB) .

Clean Air Zone

The Clean Air Zone has been introduced to achieve compliance with legal pollution limits for nitrogen dioxide (NO2). The impact of the Clean Air Zone on air pollution is being closely monitored and assessed by Bristol City Council and the Governments Joint Air Quality Unit (JAQU).

In the Clean Air Zone's first 12 months of operation, average annual nitrogen dioxide levels fell by almost 13% inside the zone and almost 10% outside of the zone, when compared to the previous 12 months. This is based on results across 193 monitoring locations in Bristol. The first Clean Air Zone report was published in January 2024.

We are committed to reporting regularly on the results of our Clean Air Zone and will be publishing a 2024 Clean Air Zone report in 2025.

Air quality 

We also have a statutory duty to report annual air pollution data to Defra through air quality Annual Status Reports (ASR). 

The latest 2024 ASR contains a summary of all air pollution monitoring data for 2023. 2023 was the first full year the Clean Air Zone was in operation and contains details of all monitoring data for the past 5 years, including:

  • information on the health effects of air pollution
  • a summary of actions being carried out in Bristol to reduce air pollution
  • ways people in Bristol can reduce the contribution and exposure to air pollution
  • the main pollutants of concern (nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter)
  • evidence that we are currently in breach of the annual objective for nitrogen dioxide, set at 40µg/m3, in a limited number of locations
  • evidence that there were no exceedances of objectives for particulate matter in 2023, however, monitoring of particulates in the city is limited, so it is possible that exceedance of objectives occurred in some isolated areas

Air quality annual status reports

If you need one of these reports in an alternative format, email a.edwards@bristol.gov.uk

Elsewhere on the web

Downloadable files

Contact information

Sustainability Team (Create)

Bristol City Council
PO Box 3399
Bristol, BS1 9NE

Phone: 0117 922 2500

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