Map reveals England’s top 10 pollution hotspots
More than a quarter of neighbourhoods in England have pollution levels that are highly dangerous to wildlife, new research shows.
Data from environmental organisation Friends of the Earth (FoE) has revealed that 27.5%, or 9,062 of neighbourhoods across the country have reached levels of water, air, noise and light pollution that is harmful to nature and threaten the survival of British species such as pollinating bees and native bats.
What are pollution hotspots?
Pollution hotspots are the areas where all four thresholds for pollution (air, water, noise and light) are breached.
This can take the form of sewage being dumped into waterways, which can kill fish, or places with noxious fumes from air pollution that can reduce honey bees’ ability to recognise different scents from only a few metres away by up to 90%.
Excessive noise pollution in areas could leave to animals such as birds or reptiles struggling to communicate or find food.
Despite a high level of areas breaching all four thresholds, many more breached two or three thresholds of pollution, and no constituency in England breached none.
The data reveals how England is one of the most nature-depleted areas in the world, with FoE reporting that nearly one in six species is facing extinction across the UK.
In a map, FoE revealed that the top neighbourhood with the highest concentration of pollution levels, is rather unsurprisingly in London, in the area of Chelsea and Fulham.
However, not all hotspots were in London. The report reveals that Chelsea and Fulham were followed by Salford, Worsley and Eccles in Greater Manchester, Vauxhall and Camberwell, and Battersea.
Where are the top 10 pollution hotspots in England?
- Chelsea and Fulham, London – out of 79 neighbourhoods, 76 cross threshold levels for all four pollution categories
- Salford – out of 61 neighbourhoods, 56 cross threshold levels for all four pollution categories
- Worsley and Eccles, Greater Manchester – out of 69 neighbourhoods, 62 cross threshold levels for all four pollution categories
- Vauxhall and Camberwell Green, London – out of 59 neighbourhoods, 53 cross threshold levels for all four pollution categories
- Battersea, London – out of 57 neighbourhoods, 50 cross threshold levels for all four pollution categories
- Poplar and Limehouse, London – out of 61 neighbourhoods, 52 cross threshold levels for all four pollution categories
- Cities of London and Westminster, London – out of 80 neighbourhoods, 68 cross threshold levels for all four pollution categories
- Dulwich and West Norwood, London – out of 63 neighbourhoods, 53 cross threshold levels for all four pollution categories
- Holborn and St. Pancras, London – out of 63 neighbourhoods, 53 cross threshold levels for all four pollution categories
- Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North, Birmingham – out of 69 neighbourhoods, 57 cross threshold levels for all four pollution categories
Species that are a hallmark of a healthy environment such as otters, dippers, Atlantic salmon and mayflies have ‘little protection against the raw sewage, toxic chemicals and slurry’ that is being pumped into their habitats over 1,000 times a day in some of the worst affected areas, FoE said.
And as sewage spills into the river, excessive nutrients have made algal blooms rampant, which is sucking the oxygen out of the water and is choking fish and other wildlife.
However, it isn’t just animals that are facing the devastating consequences of pollution. The report reveals that air pollution is linked to 25,000 human deaths annually, and it is especially dangerous for children, whose lungs are still developing, older people and those with chronic respiratory or heart conditions.
Friends of the Earth calls for the government to enshrine the right to a healthy environment in a new Environmental Rights Act with the aim to hold regulators and public bodies to account over the multiple layers of pollution.
Sienna Somers, nature campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: ‘Successive governments have failed to protect our environment from pollution and ensure people can continue to enjoy the health and wellbeing benefits of thriving nature.
‘That’s why we’ve ranked pollution hotspots based on constituencies, so citizens and MPs alike can see how pollution impacts their local area and take action.
‘What harms wildlife often harms people as well. Many of us are forced to breathe the same dirty air and live near sewage-infested rivers. While we can choose to avoid these polluted waters, many precious species cannot steer clear of the pollution we pump into their living rooms.’
She added that polluters should be held accountable for any harm they cause and should be forced to clean it up.
She said: ‘Stronger laws to hold polluters accountable would also give power back to communities to defend our rights in court, creating a cleaner and healthier environment for wildlife and people alike.’