POOR air quality led to 11 preventable deaths per 100,000 people in Wokingham in 2015.

A report prepared for Wokingham Borough Council (WBC) highlighted that for every 100,000 people, 11.2 Wokingham residents aged under 75 died from respiratory diseases caused by air pollution.

Air pollution accounts for 5.6 per cent of all deaths in Wokingham borough and Bracknell Forest, which is a higher figure than neighbouring borough West Berkshire and the average in England, but is lower than Reading and Slough.

Cllr Iain McCracken, chairman of the Joint Public Protection Committee for Bracknell Forest Borough Council, West Berkshire Council and Wokingham Borough Council, said: “The report highlights the impact of particulate pollution on the health of Wokingham Borough Council residents and is considered as good compared to elsewhere.

“These pollution hotspot locations are caused by increased levels of nitrogen dioxide and the Public Protection Partnership is working closely with all Wokingham Borough Council teams to ensure we have a coordinated approach to tackling air quality and to build on work such as My Journey to assist in the reduction of pollution levels.”

The report also suggested: “Pollution does not just kill people, it can make them ill, often for a number of years.”

Research found that for every 100,000 people in the South East, the years spent living with disability or ill-health was 387.

More than six per cent of Wokingham’s population has asthma, but this figure rises amongst children as 11 per cent of under 19s have the condition.

Foetuses and those who live in deprived areas are also more susceptible to the negative effects of poor air pollution, according to the report.

Most of the air pollutants in Wokingham borough come from vehicles using the M4 motorway, where dangerous nitrogen dioxide is heavily emitted.

Wokingham Borough Council has developed plans to ensure that air pollution is managed, including working with developers to ensure they pay £450 per new house to support residents to use transport alternatives.

However, the report noted that WBC need to do more to make the public more aware of the dangers of air pollution.