A WARNING poster has gone up at a spot in the district where air pollution has reached illegally high levels.

The poster, at busy Shipley Airedale Road in Bradford, states: "The air pollution level right here is 30 per cent above the legal limit."

It urges motorists to do their bit to help cut the pollution levels.

It says: "Let's ditch the diesels, get on our bikes, board the buses, walk to work when we can."

A Bradford Council spokesman said: "The poster on the air quality monitoring station is a joint initiative between Bradford Council and Leeds University, aimed at raising awareness of the impact of vehicles on air quality and its subsequent effect on health.

"The poster is located on one of the busiest roads in Bradford to maximise the number of drivers that see it."

Pollution is to blame for one in 20 deaths in the district, according to health experts.

Shipley Airedale Road was one of four areas of the city which fell below European pollution standards in 2013, when Bradford became the second city in the country to enforce a hard-hitting action plan to clean up the city's air.

Mayo Avenue, Thornton Road and Manningham Lane also had high levels of the pollutant nitrogen dioxide, largely caused by congestion, heavy goods vehicles, buses and diesel cars.

Since then, the authority has secured Government grants to help 'green up' some of the district's most polluting buses.

Its low emission strategy has also picked up an award and inspired the development of a wider pollution-busting strategy for the whole of West Yorkshire.

This new poster initiative comes as local councils are calling for more Government help to clean up the air across cities in West Yorkshire.

Last Thursday, the Government announced that Leeds will be among five English cities to have clean air zones by 2020.

High polluting vehicles, such as older buses, will be charged if they enter the zones but private cars will not be affected, the Government said.

But the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, which oversees transport matters across West Yorkshire, has called for action in other areas of West Yorkshire too.

Combined Authority transport committee chairman, Councillor Keith Wakefield, said: "In addition to this scheme setting out what the government has decided should be introduced for Leeds, we would also be keen to see their proposals to improve air quality for people living and working in other parts of West Yorkshire and the city region."