A campaign to encourage the public to help cut air pollution is being launched following claims that UK air quality is now worse than ever.

Environment Minister Michael Meacher is due to unveil a scheme to make dramatic cuts in the amount of exhaust fumes and pollution in the atmosphere.

The campaign will also highlight an air quality website created by the Department of the Environment, which provides warnings for people with respiratory problems.

The new strategy follows reports earlier this week by Friends of the Earth (FoE) saying air quality in the UK has suffered its biggest deterioration since modern records began.

It is also aimed at stemming some of the confusion created by conflicting government reports on the causes of air pollution.

Vehicle emissions

A recent Department of Health paper, Transport and Health in London, said millions of pounds spent fighting traffic pollution may be wasted because vehicle emissions actually cause little harm.

However, research published in 1998, which suggested that up to 24,000 people a year died prematurely because of pollution, cited road traffic as a major cause.

Environmental groups have criticised the government's failure to reduce pollution levels and meet its own required standards.

They say that government-authorised measurement methods show the average number of days in 1999 on which air pollution levels were unacceptable rose by 20% in urban areas and 53% in rural areas over 1998.

Friends of the Earth said in 1999 pollution levels were above health standards on an average of one day in eight at rural monitoring sites and one day in 13 at urban monitoring sites.

But Mr Meacher defended the government's record, saying that a downward trend in air pollution would guarantee a "dramatic" decline in major pollutants by the end of the next Parliament.