The most relevant pollution data in the area is from Islington Council's Air Quality Dashboard https://stats.islington.gov.uk/air-quality-dashboard/ which covers Highbury and Mildmay.

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The data shown is mainly from diffusion tubes which measure nitrogen dioxide (NO2), a noxious gas, which is collected monthly and hence does not show rush hour peaks, which are averaged out by low values at night and other times. This means that low pollution areas, which tend to be the range of 18-22 units, do not appear be so much better than boundary road hotspots, mostly in the range 28-31 units, with St Pauls at Highbury Corner, much the worst at 41. By comparison, the UK national target is 40 and the World Health Organisation target is 20. We do not know what the rush our difference is between the best and worst areas is, but it is easy to believe that there might be a 5x or 10x difference and the consequence of LTNs is to move pollution from the low areas to high areas, making bad situations worse. Of the 46 places being monitored in this way, the seven lowest are all in the area of the proposed HNP LN, the next best is in Highbury Crescent. While the imposition of an LTN might make these numbers slightly lower, pollution is clearly not an issue in this area.

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Data is also available on this website for sensors that show particles (PM10 and smaller PM2.5) in addition to NO2. These are new and Islington admit concerns about their accuracy (https://www.islington.gov.uk/environment-and-energy/pollution/air-quality/what-we-are-doing/monitoring). In part, this could be because the data published is for a day, versus one month for tubes, and daily values are known to vary enormously because of atmospheric conditions, see the chart on the dashboard. The typical high tube value of 30 on St Pauls near Wallace Rd, compared with a nearby incredibly low sensor value of 11 illustrates this data problem.

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The lack of peak data means that the problems of permanent traffic jams around places such as Highbury Corner and St Pauls Road do not get sufficient attention. Improving these is far more important from the pollution viewpoint than making marginal improvements in low pollution areas, particular for those living and working in such areas, bus drivers most of all.