WORCESTER'S most polluted street can today be revealed, with fumes so bad that thousands of people are unwittingly exposed to illegal levels of daily grime.

Environmental health experts have named and shamed Dolday for its hazardous levels of air pollution which breaches EU limits.

They have also warned the muck is spreading towards other parts of the city centre, blaming Worcester's rush-hour congestion in a damning verdict on air quality.

The findings have alarmed city councillors, with some calling for unprecedented restrictions or even an outright ban on HGV lorries from using Worcester Bridge to try and resolve it.

Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS), which is tasked with measuring air quality, has described the Dolday situation as "not good" and says its sampling has flagged up serious concern of it spreading to areas like The Butts, The Tything and even Upper Tything.

Under EU law, the air quality limit is 40 micrograms of pollution in every cubic metre, but at Dolday it has hit 45.2 micrograms.

As recently as August it came in at 44.5, with tests showing a consistent trend over the last several months.

The figures come just a week after Green Party co-leader Jonathan Bartley visited Worcester to call air pollution a "silent killer", labelling it "the scandal" of today's political generation.

It also comes on a day when a High Court battle is raging between the UK Government and environmental lawyers' group ClientEarth, which says not enough is being done about air pollution nationwide.

It is linked to all sorts of public health issues including asthma and respiratory conditions, with as many as 40,000 UK deaths a year attributed to outdoor air pollution.

WRS, which traditionally stays out of politics, has taken the unusual step of urging council chiefs to draw up "a holistic approach" to tackling congestion.

Under EU legislation, fines can be levied on countries which fail to tackle illegal pollution levels, which in the UK's case could see the bill passed to councils under localism law.

Mark Cox, from WRS, said: "The air quality in Dolday is not good, and what we're seeing is that because of congestion that pollution is spreading to other areas as well.

"It has spread to other streets and had an effect on The Butts, Castle Street, The Tything and Upper Tything.

"There needs to be a holistic approach to traffic in Worcester - we'd support larger HGVs and lorries not going through the city centre."

The WRS findings have been debated during a meeting of Worcester City Council's scrutiny committee.

Labour Councillor Pat Agar said: "We are one of the busiest small cities in the country, I'm beginning to get very worried about the public health impact of all this, and what we do strategically."

Conservative Councillor Stephen Hodgson suggested a HGV ban over Worcester Bridge, saying: "If we could prevent heavy vehicles from using the bridge and instead use the bypass, we'll reduce a lot of pollution in the city centre."

Speaking at the meeting, Mr Cox said: "The sheer volume of traffic means there is no easy solution.

"Dualling the Southern Link Road should make a difference to the city centre, but Dolday needs to be looked at."

....AND HERE'S THE GOOD NEWS IN LOWESMOOR

LOWESMOOR's pollution levels have eased off since a crackdown on traffic launched last year.

Worcestershire Regulatory Services say whilst Dolday has got worse, levels of air quality in Lowesmoor are better - meaning the route could be taken off a 'grime list' if the trend continues.

In January last year Worcestershire County Council started restricting traffic, meaning drivers heading westbound to reach the city centre now need to re-route via Silver Street instead of St Nicholas Street.

Despite no enforcement, the warning signs seem to have worked and the average monthly reading right across 2015 was 38 micrograms per cubic metre of air, below the limit of 40.

WRS is working on a report due to be published early next year which it is hoping will show a similar trend for 2016.

Where pollution levels breach EU limits councils have to draw up action plans to improve matters, with each zone classed as an 'Air Quality Management Area' (AQMA) until the matter is resolved.

Worcester has three current AQMAs, with St John's being added to the list in 2014 to join Dolday and Lowesmoor.

Worcestershire Regulatory Services say London Road is close to becoming another AQMA due to pollution levels being close to the limit.

Councillor Marcus Hart, the cabinet member for highways, said: "Vehicle flows in Lowesmoor have been reduced and we are now seeing a corresponding reduction in the negative affect on air quality.

“As part of the Local Transport Plan refresh the council will be looking at proposed schemes across the county to see how AQMAs can be mitigated for.

"There are no plans to restrict HGV access to Worcester Bridge but we're naturally concerned about any AQMAs in the county, and to tackle this we will ensure this is a primary consideration within the plan."

HOW DOES DOLDAY COMPARE? TYPICAL MEASUREMENTS ELSEWHERE

The ratings below show some of the typical pollution levels elsewhere in Britain and around the world - with the disclaimer that the measurements can go up and down regularly.

Delihi, in India has the unenviable reputation as having the world's worst air quality while much of central Europe is broadly comparable with the UK, although on these shores the worst pollution is concentrated in the South East.

                            Micrograms per cubic metre (limit 40)

Dolday                45.2

Lowesmoor          38

Birmingham (A450, near city centre) 35

Central London (opposite Madame Tussauds) 61

Rome, Italy         32

Berlin, Germany   20

Beijing, China     121

Delhi, India         286