The issue of air pollution is one that has long troubled the Bradford district, and in the middle of the 19th century, it was regarded as one of the smokiest places in Britain, with row upon row of mills and factories churning out lethal soot and fumes into the atmosphere.

So it is a problem that rightly causes concern, and any measures that can be taken to ease it – air pollution is still to blame for one in 20 deaths in the district and four areas in the city itself fall below European pollution standards – must be welcomed.

A meeting of the Council’s Health and Wellbeing Board heard yesterday that buses give off 43 per cent of nitrogen oxide emissions within Bradford’s inner ring road, with older buses often the most polluting.

So Council leader Dave Green’s comments that the district should not get cast off buses that have been discarded in other areas is a valid one, and hopefully bus companies will take notice of the call.

But there are obviously other areas that need improving, including encouraging people to walk rather than drive as much as possible, with traffic fumes and exhaust emissions the main causes of air pollution on our streets.

The suggestion that Bradford Council’s planned biomass heating system for its city centre buildings, while reducing carbon emissions, will have an adverse impact on air quality is also a cause for concern and is something that clearly needs closely monitoring.

The district’s bus companies, though, must also play their part and continue the work they have already started to reduce the emissions from their fleets as swiftly and efficiently as is technologically possible.