Traffic fumes are regularly breaking EU safety limits in most West local authorities, the Western Daily Press can reveal.

Average nitrogen dioxide levels were dangerously high last year in scores of cities, market towns and even villages. The pollutant can aggravate asthma and lung problems and usually goes hand in hand with particulate matter, which is linked to premature death in the elderly and ill.

Air quality expert Ed Dearnley said: "We think of the South West as a clean and green place. But when you look at the statistics it's worrying what people are exposed to."

European targets on reducing road pollution were supposed to have been met in 2005 and will become law next year. But a new Government report shows Britain has the worst nitrogen dioxide problem in Europe with no hope of meeting a 2010 deadline.

Now the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is being forced to apply to the European Commission for an extension to 2015 to cut pollution.

Even then, it admits, Britain will struggle to stay on the right side of the law unless radical action is taken.

Mr Dearnley, policy officer for Environmental Protection UK, said: "The Government has not done enough in the past to meet the original deadlines for air quality standards. As a result the health of the nation has suffered. What we want to see now is a very robust plan from the Government on how we are going to address the (high levels)."

Six out of 10 local authorities in the West have at least one stretch of road where road pollution was deemed hazardous to health last year. Of 170 monitoring sites in the region, 28 per cent recorded an annual mean nitrogen dioxide level above the EU limit of 40 micrograms per cubic metre.

In addition to these sites there are 17 Air Quality Management Areas in the West – pollution hotspots where the limit is broken so frequently that the local authority is obliged to have an action plan to address the problem.

A road junction near the Cotswold village of Birdlip is one of the more surprising hotspots, as well as the pretty village of Chideock, which is situated in a valley straddling the busy A35 in Dorset.

Large swathes of Bristol and Bath are designated management areas, as are stretches of road in the market towns of Usk, in Monmouthshire, and Bradford-on-Avon, in Wiltshire.

Keen cyclist Richard Craft lives half a mile from Bradford's iconic medieval bridge, which became an Air Quality Management Area along with surrounding streets in 2001.

Mr Craft, a retired teacher, said: "We moved here because it's a delightful place with lovely people. Traffic at the time didn't seem so bad because we'd been living in London. It was only later that we realised it was a big issue. Now we want to do something about it."

Mr Craft is actively involved in Climate Friendly Bradford-on-Avon and Priority for People, two groups dedicated to cutting emissions in the town by encouraging walking and cycling.

For several years, West Wiltshire District Council has been searching for a solution to the problem in Bradford, caused by the "canyoning" effect of tall buildings fronting straight onto the road at the bottom of a hill.

Principal Environmental Health officer Graham Steady said the council had previously proposed introducing a partial one-way system, widening pedestrian areas, adjusting traffic lights and fitting affected properties with special ventilation systems, but the public had opposed all the schemes.

"We are still scratching our heads about this, but we welcome any new ideas and support campaigns driven by local people," he said.

In parts of central Bath last year, nitrogen dioxide levels were more than twice the legal limit on occasions.

Asthmatic Rosemary Davies lives in the nearby village of Farmborough. "I try to avoid going into either Bath or Bristol because the fumes are so bad," said the 52-year-old, whose four sons are all asthmatic. "Last year we went shopping in Bristol and got stuck in traffic while looking for a place to park. My youngest son started coughing because of the fumes and was then physically sick. In the end we turned around and came home because it just wasn't worth it."

A widespread problem, especially in Bristol, is the high level of nitrogen dioxide emitted from buses, although this is expected to diminish over time so that by 2015 less than a mile of road in Bristol is expected to exceed the legal limit.

Radical solutions put forward by Defra include gas-fuelled or hydrogen-fuelled vehicles. But it is not that simple, according to the West's biggest bus operator. A spokeswoman for First Group said the carbon emissions involved in manufacturing a brand new fleet of gas-fuelled buses could outweigh the benefits of any nitrogen dioxide savings.

First has taken "massive" steps in the past 16 years to reduce pollution, the spokeswoman said. "In the past two years First in Bristol has bought 87 brand new buses," she said. "All of these vehicles have Euro IV engines fitted, which produce up to 75 per cent less carbon dioxide and nitrogen dioxide than their predecessors."

She added that older vehicles were being retrofitted with filters which reduce emissions by 90 per cent or more.

"In addition to this, the company has, like other bus operators, adopted a system whereby processed sheep urine is automatically sprayed onto exhaust gases. This proven system converts nitrous oxide emissions into less harmful nitrogen gas and water."

Other radical solutions to lower nitrogen dioxide levels include subsidies for electric cars, national road pricing schemes and low emission zones where older petrol and diesel cars are banned.

While Britain has just one low emission zone (London), Germany has 36 and higher-than-permitted nitrogen dioxide levels there are nearly twice as rare as in Britain, despite the two countries having a similar population density.

Opinion: Page 12