Editorials

The Most Polluted UK Cities

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4 May 2017

By Bronwen

Air pollution is one of the biggest threats to mankind and every year, thousands of deaths worldwide are linked to air pollution. Although the UK doesn’t even come close to being one of the world’s most polluted countries, we still have a large amount of pollutant in our air. Despite how small the UK is, there are huge differences between different city’s levels of air pollution. You may think that the UK’s worst city for this would be a big city like London or Manchester but the answer is a lot more surprising. Here are the UK’s most polluted cities:

  1. Port Talbot
  2. Stanford-le-Hope
  3. Glasgow
  4. London
  5. Scunthorpe
  6. Leeds
  7. Eastbourne
  8. Nottingham
  9. Southampton
  10. Oxford
  11. Stoke
  12. Middlesbrough

Port Talbot, Wales, is the most polluted. The city has a major Steelworks and therefore produces a lot of pollution. As you can see, London is actually ranked fourth in the list – quite surprising for a capital city that is also the most populous city in the country. 8.6 million people live in London compared to just 35,000 in Port Talbot. This huge difference in population just shows the huge impact that the Steelworks have on the environment.

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