An environmental group has warned people across Gravesham are being exposed to excessive levels of toxic fumes.

Friends of the Earth (FOE) carried out a study to find out how much nitrogen oxide (NO2) was in the air in different parts of the borough in January and said the pollution was putting people “at risk of ill health and death”.

The European Commission dictates that NO2 levels must not go above 40 micrograms per cubic metre over the course of a year, and FOE is concerned about the start made to 2017 outside a leisure centre, football stadium, and multiple schools.

Diffusion tubes used to measure NO2 reveal there was just shy of 60 micrograms per cubic metre at the Tollgate roundabout, the one-way system in Parrock Street, and the Watling Street junction with the A2 near Nell’s Cafe.

The figure outside Cascades Leisure Centre in Thong Lane and Ebbsfleet United’s home ground Stonebridge Road was well above 40, and levels around Meopham Community Academy fell less than 2% below the legal limit.

N02 levels around Istead Rise Primary School and King’s Farm Primary School were over 30 when the tests were carried out, and FOE claims these levels would regularly be higher than the recorded average during drop-off and pick-up times.

Kevin Johncock is the joint coordinator of FOE’s Gravesham branch and said the fumes can reduce immunity to lung infections such as bronchitis, leaving the young and elderly especially at risk.

“There’s evidence that air pollution levels cause the death of 40,000 people per year in the UK so this is a nationwide problem,” he said.

“FOE is concerned for the health of local people and inaction by central government in particular, and the local government also failing to address this issue is only going to put more people at risk from ill health and indeed death.

“This country has already been brought before the Supreme Court and told to improve the air safety records and the government has yet to comply with that legal requirement.

“The work that it has done so far is totally inadequate and it faces further legal challenge.”

Gravesham council’s own monitoring identified eight areas in excess of the national objectives for NO2, including the A2 corridor, Gravesend one-way system, Northfleet Industrial Estate, and along Old Road East and West.

Two action plans have been drawn up to tackle the problem, including Highways England’s re-routing of the A2, which the council believes is already having a positive impact.

Figures taken by the council are also the average of an entire year, rather than just a month. The council’s NO2 readings near Nell’s Cafe for 2016 were 36.4 micrograms per cubic metre, compared to FOE’s 57.92 reading for January.

A council spokesman said: “These results are not comparable with our own robust monitoring data which is done on a regular basis and approved by the Department of Food, Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra).

“We post all of our monitoring data and our reports on the www.KentAir.org.uk website.”

Traffic is the greatest contributor to the presence of NO2 in the air and diesel vehicles are the worst culprit.

FOE wants the government to introduce a scheme that provides incentives for the scrapping of such vehicles, although some newer diesel motors are more fuel efficient than petrol motors.