A WARNING has been issued about many of the town's 'pollution hotspots' following a data audit of the UK.

Friends of the Earth have revealed the 1,845 sites deemed to have breached Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) levels.

Reading has its fair share of problem zones, with London Road, Caversham Road and Oxford Road all appearing in the study multiple times.

The data for Reading, recorded from 2017, showed Oxford Road to be the most polluted area, with a total of 16 locations breaching the NO2 limit across the area.

Reading Borough Council (RBC) recently declared a climate emergency, setting an ambitious target to eliminate carbon dioxide emissions by 2030.

This came after pressure from campaigners Extinction Rebellion Reading and the authority has outlined a number of plans, including a ‘clean air zone’ in the town centre.

Click here to view a map of where the pollution hotspots are in Reading and other areas.

An Air Quality Annual Status Report, published in June 2018, set out the authority's optimism about levels of pollution.

The report reads: "This Annual Status Report has shown that the majority of air quality objectives for all pollutants continue to be achieved, although the NO2 annual objective continues to be exceeded.

"None of the areas of exceedance identified fall outside the existing boundaries.

"Reading is a heavily built up area, in which the roads get congested during peak times. The main air quality issue identified in Reading are vehicle emissions.

"NO2 is the only pollutant exceeding a national objective, but PM10 and PM2.5 are also pollutants of concern due to their effects on health even at low concentrations.

"RBC’s monitoring of these pollutants indicates that after years of stagnation the levels are beginning to fall again."

Higher levels of NO2 can have a long-lasting impact on health conditions, such as asthma, but the Government are opposed to councils using charges to exclude the most polluting vehicles.

Reading has the most pollution hotspots in Berkshire according to the figures with Slough (12), Wokingham (5) and West Berkshire (2) all behind.