Only one road in Dartford is predicted to exceed EU targets for pollution levels - and it's not the Dartford Crossing.

The A206, bordering with Bexley, is the only road predicted to exceed nitrous oxide levels in 2017 according to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).

A recent meeting of Dartford Council heard that despite the council's own forecast that the Dartford Crossing would exceed safe pollution levels, DEFRA's UK had predicted this was not the case.

A DEFRA spokesman said: "We use the Pollution Climate Mapping (PCM) model for the air quality plan, which is a national model to provide results for the whole of the UK, rather than local hotspots.

"The PCM model can therefore sometimes provide different results to the local monitoring regime. National monitoring follows strict siting criteria and quality assurance procedures which are set out in the EC Air Quality Directive and subject to rigorous procedures of validation and ratification.

"The majority of local authority monitoring stations are not part of Defra's national monitoring network as they do not meet the stringent standards of the European legislation."

News Shopper previously reported that the Dartford had the second highest hospital admission rates for asthma.

The Dartford Crossing (A282) had been going unmonitored by the government after it was revealed earlier this year it had been misclassified as a rural road.