Air pollution levels in Henley drop by a third

AIR pollution levels in Henley have dropped by almost a third while Watlington has reduced by more than half.

Both towns had been designated as “Air Quality Management Areas” but this will now be removed by South Oxfordshire District Council.

Under the designation, the towns needed targeted action to reduce nitrogen dioxide pollutant levels, which were higher than the national target. Nitrogen dioxide is a key pollutant primarily linked to emissions from combustion engine vehicles.

Henley was first designated in January 2003 and since then has seen a reduction in NO2 by about 31 per cent.

In its 2025 air quality report the district council recorded an exceedance of 31.2µg/m3  compared to 45.1 µg/m3 in 2003.

Watlington had seen a reduction of about 54 per cent since it first designated in March 2009.

The 2025 report found that the level of NO2 in Watlington was 23.7  µg/m3 compared to 51.3 µg/m3 in 2009.

The data was collected by its environmental protection team using diffusion tubes and analysers.

In Henley, there are 15 monitoring sites, with four in the town centre, Thames Side, Greys Road and Bell Street and Duke Street, which is fitted with a continuous analyser.

The monitoring sites have been operating for a number of years and they will continue to be used in the future.

It is believed the progress had come as a result of a combination of factors, including changes to working patterns and the rise in electric vehicles.

Clean air campaigners in Henley have said that while they are pleased that progress has been made, there was still more to do to improve air quality. David Dickie, of St Katherine’s Road, said: “I’m pleased with improvement but I’d like it to go further.

“Pollution levels vary around Henley and Starbucks is by far the worst. It’s only just below [40 µg/m3] as far as I’m concerned. I still don’t think it’s good enough.”

Mr Dickie said that more still needed to be done to tackle carbon particulate pollution.  He said: “Carbon particulates are not soluble by water. When they go into your body, they can be there for a long time.

“The research worldwide is emerging and the district council have yet to say what are the measures in Henley of particulates and what should be done about it. So, I think their responsibilities haven’t ended with nitrogen dioxide.”

Kate Oldridge, executive director of Greener Henley, said: “It’s positive to see nitrogen dioxide levels falling but our objective in Henley is to cut pollution in all its forms.

“Particulate pollution — tiny particles from traffic and other sources that can be breathed deep into the lungs — has serious impacts on both human health and the health of our natural world, and we’d like to see this addressed with the same urgency.”

A spokeswoman for the district council said that it does not currently monitor particulates but “is confident levels of these are not in exceedance of the national objectives”.