It seems somewhat astonishing in this day and age that one in 20 deaths in Bradford have some causal link with air pollution – that’s the sort of thing that tends to have more associations with emerging nations with unregulated industry and the smoggy Victorian skies of our own history.

But the amount of traffic on the roads continues to increase and is apparently bringing with it more and more pollution, with many roads in the district exceeding safe levels as set down by the European Union.

West Yorkshire has the fourth highest level of polluting nitrogen dioxide in the country, though given the size of the county that hardly seems surprising relative to the rest of the nation.

What is surprising is that pollution continues to rise in an age when we are more conscious of ecological issues than ever before, and manufacturers of new cars are constantly boasting about how green their products are.

Bradford Council is to be commended for deciding to carry out a public consultation with a view to taking action on the pollution that is threatening health and even lives in the district.

There are many ways in which we as a district can influence the environment for the better, such as car-sharing initiatives, low emission zones which ban heavy polluters such as trucks, and more use of less-polluting bio-fuels.

Of course, the environment as a whole can only be positively affected if such initiatives are adopted on a widespread basis – while undoubtedly worthy, any unilateral action by Bradford is unlikely to make much more than the tiniest of dents in a problem that is getting worse year by year.