Catford has “dangerous” levels of air pollution as a local group’s monitoring figures showed they were close to double the legal limit.

A concerned group of Catford residents set up their own air monitoring tubes in June 2017 for the period they measured the air pollution and the results alarmed them.

Clean Air for Catford found that the air pollution levels were almost double the legal level, notably in locations next to a number of primary schools.

The worst spot was the junction of Torridon and Brownhill Roads, where heavy traffic builds up, waiting to get onto the South Circular road.

The group recorded a further five readings over the level at which the annual average legal limit for Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) is set.

Ted Burke, of Clean Air for Catford, said: “Air pollution has been in the news a lot lately so we wanted to find out what the air is like where our children are growing up and going to school.

“I’ve got two young kids and like all of us in the group I just want to know that they’re getting the best possible start in life.

“Even though we were expecting high levels, particularly around the South Circular Road, we were surprised by what we found. Our results suggest Catford may have air pollution just as dirty as other parts of the capital.

“We were alarmed to learn that Public Health England say that there are 116 early deaths in Lewisham due to air pollution a year. We just want to do something about it.

“We’re really keen to work with the local council and the Mayor of Lewisham to work out what we can do to make our air cleaner and safer to breathe.”

A spokesperson for Lewisham Council said: "We are keen to work with all Lewisham residents to make our air cleaner.

“We encourage people living in our borough to walk, cycle or use public transport instead of driving a car and to sign up to www.airtext.info to get a daily air pollution text alert.”