AIR quality improved by up to 43 per cent in York during lockdown.

But the council warns the improvement is unlikely to be maintained - and could become worse than it was before the pandemic if people use their cars more.

Council environment bosses are to get an update on changes to the city's air quality during the past year.

According to a report, before lockdown a downward trend in nitrogen oxide levels continued - but had plateaued in some areas.

But lockdown led to a huge reduction in traffic - and nitrogen dioxide levels improved by 43 per cent in some parts of the city.

"The Covid-19 lockdown provided an unexpected and unique opportunity to study York’s air quality in the absence of normal traffic levels," the City of York Council report says.

"During the early part of the Covid-19 lockdown nitrogen dioxide concentrations improved by an average of 30% across York and in some areas by up to 43%, clearly demonstrating that traffic is a significant source of nitrogen dioxide in the city and supporting the steps the council has taken so far to reduce vehicle emissions.

"As lockdown has eased and traffic has started to return to more normal levels, the air quality improvement is unlikely to be sustained at these levels."

The council recommends people are encouraged to travel by cycling, walking or using public transport to hold on to the improvements.

But if car journeys increase as a result of coronavirus, air quality improvements made in recent years could be wiped out.

The report says: "Current uncertainties with respect to future travel behaviour, particularly around confidence in the use of public transport (and possible subsequent increases in private car journeys) could offset some of the air pollution gains that have been made in recent years.

"However, if York can sustain some of the improvements in walking and cycling levels that arose during lockdown and more people work at home, there may be an opportunity to improve air quality further."

"Members of the public have had a unique opportunity to experience cleaner air and may have given the issue more thought than normal due to the links to Covid-19 death rates."

It says the council could give more road space to cyclists and pedestrians.

The meeting takes place on Thursday at 4pm.