WINCHESTER’S poor quality city centre air could be helping to kill dozens of local people a year, it is claimed.

Hundreds of people are dying early in Hampshire because of air pollution, the Liberal Democrats claim.

Research from Europe showed that at least 564 people in the region — including 46 in Winchester — die prematurely each year because of pollutants mainly caused by traffic and transport, the party claimed.

Early deaths as a result of pollutants known as PM10s, or particulates, have been estimated to cost up to £20 billion annually, they said.

Across the UK, air pollution was said to have led to 24,000 premature deaths annually.

Winchester has some of the filthiest air in Hampshire. It has been a chronic problem in the city for years, with nitrogen dioxide and PM10s, or dust, the problem.

In 2003 the city council was forced to declare the city centre the first Air Quality Management Area in non-unitary Hampshire.

The high level of traffic, the canyon-effect of many narrow streets, and the city’s location between hills, means that pollution can be prone to linger.

Simon Hughes, the Lib Dem energy and climate change spokesman, called on the Government to take action to ensure the UK better complied with the EU air quality laws Mr Hughes said: “Air pollution is a silent killer. Every year thousands of people across Britain are having their lives cut short because our Government is dragging its heels on cleaning up the air we breathe.”

But the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said it believed the report by the European Environment Agency, on which the figures were based, was flawed because it assumed premature deaths were linked to air quality, and did not take into account the existing health conditions of individuals.

A Defra spokesman said: “Air quality has improved significantly over the last 10 years, and we are committed to improving air quality further. The steps we have taken now mean 99 per cent of the UK meets EU air quality limits.

“We recognise that more needs to be done to reduce pollution and we set out the measures we will consider taking forward in the Air Quality Strategy published in 2007.

“We are also working with those who can help to reduce emissions to explore what further approaches will be needed in our big towns and cities across the country.”

The local figures for premature deaths are: Eastleigh 50; Fareham 48; Gosport 32; New Forest 79; Test Valley 49; and Southampton 81.

Phil Tidridge, scientific officer at Winchester City Council, said PM10 pollution was gradually improving. However, NO2 pollution was fairly constant.

PM10 pollution had eased because modern cars are cleaner and park and ride has reduced traffic levels.

Mr Tidridge said: “The bottom line is that air quality is not getting worse. With particulates it is getting better.

He said he did not know what effect the recession may have. In the early 1990s the number of vehicles declined.

Mr Tidridge said fewer cars may mean less pollution, but the economic downturn could mean drivers spending less on maintaining their cars.

The city council measures air pollution at two sites in Friarsgate and St George’s Street.