One of the very few silver linings of the coronavirus crisis has been plunging air pollution levels across the globe – but Herefordshire does not seem to be seeing the benefit.

New figures from monitoring stations across Britain show big drops in the amount of nitrogen dioxide escaping into the atmosphere as the Covid-19 lockdown cuts road traffic and hits the economy.

But the station at Leominster has actually seen a marginal increase compared with last year.

Levels of NO2 emissions went from 6 micrograms per cubic in one week of March last year metre to 6.3 in the equivalent week just gone.

But the figure needs to be put in perspective – it’s very low compared to the vast majority of other places in Britain.

Last year the village of Hafod-yr-ynys in Gwent had a figure of 72.6 and figures of more than 30 were common in many locations.

The highest readings are mainly on roadsides in large urban areas.

Covid-19 is having an impact overall, though, with drops of between a third and a half in many places.

Haford-yr-ynys, for instance, fell from 72.6 to 41., while one Edinburgh station recorded a fall from 58.8 to 28.3.