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Parents told the charity Living Streets they're worried pollution along the school run could hurt their kids' health.

Parents aren’t walking their kids to school because of their fears over air pollution, new research has shown.

But their choice could be leading to even worse air quality, as it only adds to the number of cars on the streets.

New research by the pedestrian campaign group Living Streets says nearly two-thirds of UK parents of 4-11 year-olds worry about the effect of air pollution on their child’s health – a 17 per cent jump from 2018.

And two fifth of parents are specifically concerned about the levels of air pollution around their child’s school or on the school run.

Concerns are significantly higher for parents in London, with 78 per cent concerned about the impact on health and 68 per cent about levels of air pollution around the school.

Jenni Wiggle, the Senior Director or Living Streets, says the research highlighted a sad irony.

“What’s concerning is that parents are put off doing the one thing which could drastically improve the air quality around their child’s school.”

“Walking to school is a positive action parents can take to help clean up our air.”