Air pollution in parts of Greater London and southeast England deteriorated on Thursday, hitting the maximum level on the government scale despite forecasts that it would start to abate. Defra, the environment department, forecasts that air pollution will be at or near 10 on its scale of one to 10 in East Anglia, through the Midlands, into easternmost Wales, on Merseyside and as far south as through London into northern Kent. A reading of 10 is classified as “very high”. Frank Kelly, professor of environmental health at King’s College London, said: “Today is going to be the worst day of the last couple of weeks.” He recommended that children be kept indoors in areas where pollution is high or very high. “The general understanding of the effects of air pollution on children is that it leads to a decrease in their lung growth,” he said. “This is precautionary […]