2025 Action Scorecards

Question · Action Scorecards 2025

Do the PM 2.5 levels in a significant proportion of neighbourhoods in the council’s area exceed the safe World Health Organisation (WHO) air pollution guidelines?

Question code
2.12b
Section
Transport
Topic
Air Quality - PM2.5
Source
National Data
Question weight
Unweighted

Criteria

Negatively Scored Question - Two-tier

A council will be negatively scored if they have 25% or more LSOAs (Lower-layer Super Output Areas) above the World Health Organisations (WHO) PM 2.5 guidelines.

Negative marks applied for the first tier: -2% of the maximum possible section score.

A council will be further negatively scored if they have 75% or more LSOAs (Lower-layer Super Output Areas) above the World Health Organisations (WHO) PM 2.5 guidelines.

Negative marks applied for the second tier: -4% of the maximum possible section score.

Clarifications

PM 2.5 (Particulate Matter 2.5) is the tiny particles or droplets in the air that are two and one half microns or less in width. PM 2.5 can be caused by burning fossil fuels, tyre wear and brake dust from cars and even weather variations. Data for PM 2.5 is less accurate at the local level and relies upon modelling due to a lack of national sensors.

LSOAs (Lower-layer Super Output Areas) are small areas designed to be of a similar population size, with an average of approximately 1,500 residents or 650 households. They are used to form the basis of the census.

WHO PM2.5 guidelines: PM 2.5 concentrations of 5 μg/m3 annual average.

Question performance

Or show scores by type of council