AIR pollution on the Isle of Wight has fallen to its lowest level in a decade, figures reveal.

Climate campaigners say the improvement in air quality has been helped by continuing investment in cycling and walking as well as the transition to zero-emission cars with new petrol cars to be banned from sale by 2030.

Yet there are still areas across the UK where toxic pollution has led to health charities calling on the Government to impose stricter limits on fine particles in the air (PM2.5), which come mainly from the burning of oil, gas and diesel.

Figures from the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs show the average concentration of PM2.5 pollution particles on the Isle of Wight was eight micrograms per cubic metre in 2019 — below the UK limit of 25, and the World Health Organisation guideline limit of ten.

That was a decrease from 9.2 micrograms in 2018, and the lowest level since 2010, when it was 9.7.

Levels of the particles have fallen in England since 2011, when national records began, from 12.1 micrograms per cubic metre to 9.6 in 2019.

Separate figures published by the NHS show an estimated 4.2 per cent of deaths among people aged 30 and over on the Isle of Wight were associated with long-term exposure to PM2.5, down from five per cent the year before.

The UK Health Alliance on Climate Change welcomed the reduction in pollution in some areas, but wants the Government to bring in lower limits on PM2.5 as part of the Environment Bill, which will come back before Parliament this year.

The dangers of air pollution were highlighted last month when nine-year-old Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah became the first person in the UK to have air pollution listed as the cause of death on their death certificate.

She lived near the South Circular Road in Lewisham, south-east London, and died in 2013.

Coroner Phillip Barlow, who found she had been exposed to high levels of PM2.5 from traffic, said the Government should reduce its limits for the particulate matter pollution to bring them in line with WHO guidelines.

PM2.5 are tiny particles which can lodge in the lungs and even pass into bloodstream, potentially causing damage to blood vessels and organs.

They come mostly from traffic fumes, but also through industrial emissions, wood burners and livestock manure. A small proportion come from natural sources in the form of dust or sea salt particles.