A BARROW GP said a study that revealed the town has four of the top five surgeries with the worst levels of air pollution outside them “needs to be taken seriously.”

New analysis of air pollution data revealed streets around the Atkinson Health Centre, Norwood Medical Centre, Duke Street Surgery and The Family Practice had some of the worst levels of PM2.5 air pollution in England.

Barrow GP Dr Geoff Joliffe, clinical chair of Morecambe Bay Clinical Commissioning Group, said the issue 'needed to be looked at and 'taken seriously.'

Dr Joliffe explained the results of the study were not surprising considering Barrow’s geography.

“It doesn’t shock me completely because the geography of the town is such that there is a very densely populated core," he said.

“This matched with no rurality or large urban areas to dilute the pollution is why a lot of statistics about Barrow show negative levels.

The monitoring of PM2.5 was described by Dr Joliffe as a “new kid on the block”.

"We were encouraging people to drive diesel cars because they were more fuel efficient and they produce less carbon monoxide and dioxide - we didn’t know about these particulates," he said.

According to Dr Penny Woods, chief executive of the British Lung Foundation, recent evidence shows that fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is even more harmful to peoples health than nitrogen dioxide (NO2).

Colin Cox, Cumbria County Council’s Director of Public Health, said: “Poor air quality is a serious problem in many areas across the UK, fortunately Cumbria as a whole does benefit from low levels of air pollution.

“These findings are interesting, we work closely with Barrow Borough Council to monitor air quality and the effects of fine particles which can come from a variety of sources including manufacturing plants, motor vehicles, airplanes, residential wood burning, agricultural burning and even ‘salt spray’.”

“Everyone has some responsibility for reducing air pollution and should do their bit if we are to significantly improve air quality.”

The data was produced by the environmental cities network UK100.