Green campaigners are calling on the government to honour its obligation to monitor air quality around the island on a regular basis.

The Isle of Man Friends of the Earth says the quality of the air we breathe has not been assessed since 2009 and this is in direct breach of a legal requirement.

The FoE’s Pete Christian said the Public Health Act, 1990 requires a report to be laid before Tynwald every three years but this has not happened for eight years.

’I have found no evidence such a report has ever been compiled, and no testing of any sort done since 2008,’ Mr Christian said.

In fact the group was so concerned it conducted its own scientific survey placing monitoring equipment in six locations around Douglas, testing for nitrogen dioxide.

One location, the Quarterbridge, recorded 41.9 micrograms per cubic metre, just above the EU annual average limit of 40. Outside St Thomas’s primary school in Douglas town centre the level was ’worryingly close’, he said, to the EU specified level, at 37.15.

But Mr Christian said the government’s Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture was unable to give any priority to the issue.

’I think it warrants further investigation, and it is worth adding that these EU limits are not levels intended to say anything below them is ’safe’,’ he said.

Previous tests for nitrogen dioxide have also found levels above the EU recommended limit in Lord Street.

’In the UK this would have triggered the designation of an Air Quality Management Area with consequent action, but instead, in 2009, our people decided to ditch air quality testing entirely,’ he said.

A government spokesman said: ’The department submits details of a wide range of general emissions (road vehicles, power stations, domestic premises etc) to the UK for inclusion in the UK’s annual returns. An annual report on the Isle of Man’s emissions is produced as part of this process.’

In a statement, the government accepted no testing had been done on vehicle emissions since 2009 because testing had highlighted no concerns so the cost of replacing the testing equipment was not thought justified.

It said the government is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, promoting electric cars, zero emission public sector homes, and promoting walking and cycling. It said there was no statutory duty to report to Tynwald.