A NEW Government grant to help battle Bradford’s toxic air has been welcomed by environmental campaigners.

Pollution has reached illegal limits at a number of busy roads in Bradford and is thought to be responsible for more than 200 deaths a year in the district.

Now more than £1m is to be spent fitting 62 of the city’s buses with pollution-cutting technology, after a study found that buses are responsible for 43 per cent of traffic emissions within the inner ring road.

Bradford Council teamed up with authorities in Wakefield, Calderdale and Kirklees on the bid for funding, through the West Yorkshire Combined Authority.

They have been awarded £2.8m to make 156 buses greener across all four districts.

A local Friends of the Earth group, which conducted its own study into air quality in the district last year, said the grant was “a step in the right direction” but far more work would still be needed.

Glyn Turton, of Baildon Friends of the Earth, said: “Every little helps. However, a much more ambitious plan is called for if we are to clean up our cities and improve the health of our people.”

Professor Turton said that in order to make the air cleaner in urban areas, a coordinated plan was needed to make all vehicles cleaner, cut the number of unnecessary car journeys and boost the public transport networks.

He said: “This initiative by Bradford Council, the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and the bus companies is a step in the right direction – but a giant stride is needed if we want to prevent damage to our health from atmospheric pollution.

“‘Sometimes all I need is the air that I breathe’, runs the romantic line of the song. The prosaic truth is that we need it all of the time - and it has to be clean.”

The kit will be fitted to Arriva, First and Transdev buses which drive around or within the inner ring road.

It will prevent an estimated 31 tonnes of harmful nitrogen dioxide being released into Bradford’s air each year.

It is the same technology which was fitted to 25 Bradford buses in 2014 and saw their emissions cut by more than 90 per cent.

Councillor Val Slater, Bradford Council’s portfolio holder for health and wellbeing, said: “We are delighted to have been successful in this bid which allows us to further build on the work that was done back in 2014.

“We want to be able to encourage more people to use public transport and we are certainly heading in the right direction with these developments.

“The clean bus technology will enhance our efforts in the projects that the council is working on currently.”

In total, the Clean Bus Technology Fund is giving out nearly £40 million in 20 separate grants to areas around the country.

Environment Minister Therese Coffey said: “Poor air quality affects public health, the economy and the environment, which is why we are determined to do more.

“I am delighted to see so many high quality applications to the Clean Bus Technology Fund and, as a result, the government has decided to bring forward funding meaning that we will award nearly £40 million to retrofit more than 2,700 buses.”