Here, the council’s Air Quality Action Plan suggests that dirty air due to nitrogen dioxide is “a strong influence on 175 deaths brought forward each year.”

The London Road area in Brighton is particularly prone to problems with dirty air. Heavy traffic brings some of the highest levels of nitrogen dioxide in the city – and this comes alongside busy markets and many pedestrians. It’s good news then that the London Road LAT (Local Area Team) will look at this in more detail at their meeting this week, where there’ll be a presentation from a council air quality expert.

Dirty air affects us all but the impacts are not felt evenly. You’re more likely to suffer if you’re young or old and/or if you live in poverty. This is a public health crisis to which the national response has been utterly inadequate, with the Government standing idly by while Brighton residents and people right across the UK have been left to choke.

The Government has done its best to shirk responsibility and it’s astonishing that the air pollution plan announced last week had to be dragged out of the Government - as ministers tried their best to use the election as cover for their continuing refusal to take action.

As it was, the plan wasn’t so much a plan, but a plan to have a plan. For example, it rightly stated that Clean Air Zones are the single most effective way to tackle dirty emissions but it failed to announce even one measure to ensure these zones are established. 

The Green Party’s air pollution plan would tackle this public health emergency. It includes a Clean Air Act that would enshrine in law the right to breathe. It would ensure that Britain becomes a world leader in new technologies that help us clean up our air. Meanwhile, a public transport revolution could reverse years of under-investment and skyrocketing fare prices. The Green Party plan would force car companies to pay their way for the damage they have done to people’s health.

Half measures are not good enough when premature deaths in Brighton & Hove and beyond are linked to air pollution - we need bold action now.