Greater Manchester
The problem with Greater Manchester’s air
Air pollution in Greater Manchester is a real and growing danger to children's health.
Greater Manchester has one of the highest annual levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) - the "diesel pollutant" - in the UK. Levels here are now 1.3 times the current UK legal limit, and over 5 times the World Health Organization limit.
Our recent Freedom of Information request uncovered a 33 per cent increase in the number of babies and toddlers admitted to Greater Manchester hospitals with breathing problems between 2023 and 2024.
Our October 2024 pavement stencil campaign highlighted the illegal levels of air pollution captured at an air pollution monitor in Manchester. Image: Rebecca Lupton Photography
“Mums for Lungs are right to raise the health impact on kids of poor air quality. We can’t turn away from the issue.”
What are we doing about air pollution in Greater Manchester?
Our Greater Manchester group raises awareness of the health impacts of air pollution, helps people reduce their exposure, and pushes for policy change across the region.
Our 2024 election campaigning secured real commitments from local leaders - see our wins below - but there's much further to go.
We'll keep holding decision-makers to account, and are urging the Mayor and all ten local authorities across Greater Manchester to go further and faster on tackling this huge risk to health.
Mums for Lungs volunteers at the Asthma and Lung UK “Our Manchester Our Air” event. Image: Sarah Pull
Our priorities:
Campaigning for School Streets to be rolled out across Greater Manchester.
Lobbying for more awareness of and action on the dangers of wood burning.
Pushing for a phase-out of diesel cars by 2030, to protect the next generation from diesel’s devastating health impacts.
Monthly meetings
Our Manchester Coordinator, Liz Godfrey, runs a monthly meeting, alternating between online and in-person.
If you’d like to join us, please email Liz at manchester@mumsforlungs.org for the details or to have a quick chat. We look forward to meeting you!
Our GM Co-ordinator Liz Godfrey.
Greater Manchester air pollution resources
Click on the images to download our GM flyer or School Streets campaigning guide.
To order print versions for free, and see our other resources, head to our Resources page.
Head to our School Streets page to find out more about getting a School Street at your school.
Our wins in Greater Manchester
Local election campaign, 2024
We asked the leading candidates for the Manchester City Council election to sign up to:
A pathway to reach the 2021 World Health Organization guideline targets for healthy air with clear interim targets and timescales, a Clean Air cabinet member, action on wood burning and an acceleration of the School Streets programme.
We were very pleased when the post of Executive Member for Clean Air, Environment and Transport was created after the elections. The leader of Manchester City Council, Councillor Bev Craig, also announced that School Streets would be implemented at 25 per cent of Manchester’s schools by 2029, a commitment we are following up on a regular basis.
Some of our Greater Manchester volunteers with our campaign asks in St Peter’s Square. Image: Rebecca Lupton Photography
Mayoral election campaign, 2024
As part of a coalition of groups in Greater Manchester that included Clean Cities Campaign, Walk Ride GM, Manchester Friends of the Earth, Sustrans, Living Streets and Asthma and Lung UK, we asked Greater Manchester’s Mayoral candidates to commit to real sustained action to clean up the air we breathe.
Andy Burnham was re-elected, having committed to implementing 100 School Streets across Greater Manchester by 2028. This commitment was reaffirmed in the Bee Network’s 2025 Active Travel Annual Report, with progress confirmed as being on track for 100 schemes by 2028.
“We expect the number of school streets to increase to 60 by July 2026, 80 by 2027 and 100 in 2028, in order to meet the Mayoral ambition.”
We launched our campaign by hanging a washing line of babygros, hand-printed with the message ‘Clean Air Now’, in St Peter’s Square. Image: Rebecca Lupton Photography