A landmark ruling on air pollution - which leads to 4,000 London deaths a year - has been welcomed by Lewisham and Greenwich campaigners as studies show dangerous levels of pollutants in the area.

This week, the Supreme Court ordered the government to take immediate action over its obligations under European law on air pollution limits, following a legal battle by campaign group ClientEarth.

And the news has pleased campaigners against the Silvertown Tunnel plans, who claim the new Greenwich peninsula road link would massively increase congestion in the area.

Darryl Chamberlain from protest group No to Silvertown Tunnel - who have carried out studies showing dangerous levels of pollution around Greenwich - said: "This judgment is a wake-up call for politicians at all levels, from possible Prime Ministers to our local councillors, whatever their party.

"For too long now, we’ve had politicians at all levels - from central government to local boroughs - who have ignored air pollution and backed roadbuilding schemes that will make it worse.

"In particular, the candidates to be London’s next mayor must cancel Boris Johnson’s Silvertown Tunnel, which will add to congestion and pollution."

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Elsewhere, the East Greenwich Residents Association have been doing their own pollution surveys, and warn levels are dangerously high even before construction of a proposed cruise liner terminal at Enderby Wharf, where ships using diesel are expected to dock.

Average levels of nitrogen dioxide - which can lead to respiratory illness in children - at seven out of 10 areas they monitored were higher than the 40 microgrammes per cubic metre of air legal limit.

And over in Catford and Hither Green, a group of mums used air pollution monitors to record limit-busting levels of nitrogen dioxide along Brownhill Road, the gyratory and the A21, along with residential streets like Hither Green lane and Sangley Road.

With high levels around schools like Torridon, Rushey Green and Sandhurst, the mums now want Lewisham Council to measure air pollution more widely, and Transport for London (TfL) to start using hybrid buses.

Clare Griffiths, who put together the study design with organisation Mapping for Change, said: "I hope Lewisham Council will sit up and take notice of these results.

"I’ll be contacting them to talk to them about the monitoring we’ve done and about our concerns for the future. We want their help in lobbying TfL about hybrid buses, but also we want them to consider stopping some of the rat running that goes on on our streets."