Friends of the Earth: Report: The geographic relation between household income and polluting factories (Report summary)

The geographic relation between household income and polluting factories (Report summary)

The geographic relation between household income and polluting factories is a report which was published by Friends of the Earth in April 1999. Below is a summary of that report.

Summary

In April 1999 Friends of the Earth published landmark research showing that industrial pollution hits the poorest people hardest. Friends of the Earth compared the Environment Agency's data on the location of UK factories, with data on the household income of areas (based on postcode 'sectors' - each covering around 2,500- 3,000 households).

The research shows that:

Factories are more likely to be found in poorer communities:
- 662 factories are found in areas with average household income of less than £15,000.
- 5 factories are found in areas with average household income above £30,000
Similar patterns appear at the regional level:
- In London, over 90% of polluting factories are in areas with below average income
- In the North East, over 80% of polluting factories are in areas with below average income.
The more factories in an area, the poorer it is likely to be:
- In Teesside, one area has 17 factories - and an average household income of just £6,200 - 64% less than the national average.

UK factories release large quantities of health-threatening chemicals. At the time of this study, official data showed that the worst factory - Associated Octel in the South Wirral - had released more than 5,300 tonnes of carcinogens. Overall, factories in the UK had churned out 1.3 million tonnes of sulphur dioxide, and 650,000 tonnes of nitrogen dioxide annually.

We cannot be sure how much ill-health these emissions cause - for any illness could be caused by any number of factors (such as diet, housing or smoking), or factors working together. But these figures show that it is the poorest who are hit hardest by industrial pollution. On top of unemployment and crime, these families and communities face the grime of industrial pollution. Here pollution is as far from a middle class concern as it can get. This pollution adds to the multiple deprivations these communities face, and environmental pollution is a clear component of social exclusion.

Friends of the Earth is calling for an 80% reduction in factory pollution by 2005. This would improve the environment, improve people's health and quality of life, and reduce social exclusion.

See our subsequent report called Pollution and poverty - breaking the link from April 2001 for more data.

Further research

This first study of pollution and poverty also shows that much further work is needed. First, further research is needed to determine the causes of these results. Two possible reasons are:

Poorer communities have less time and/or resources to be able to fight potential developments.
The factories came first, and then local people with higher incomes moved away to greener areas.

These reasons need exploring. But, whatever the cause, the reality is still that the poorest people live in the worst environments. Analysis of the cause should not delay action to tackle the problem.

Second, this initial study only undertakes a limited analysis - of location of factories against income. Further studies should categorise factories by their nature and scale, rather than treat them all equally. A finer scale of analysis, study of the relation between emissions and exposure, and statistical analysis are also needed.

Broadening the research, further work should look at other environmental impacts - for example, initial academic analysis shows that poorer communities suffer from the worst exposure to traffic pollution. And the distributional effects on other groups (beyond an income analysis) is needed - for distributions in relation to ethnicity, gender and age for example.

These areas are all major components of the extensive 'environmental justice' literature in the USA, which is used to guide policy making. To address the injustice of these unequal impacts in the UK, a major research and policy effort is needed.

England and Wales map of polluters and poverty

Average income by postcode
	£0 - £9,999
	£10,000 - £14,999
	£15,000 - £19,999
	£20,000 - £24,999
	£25,000 - £29,999
	£30,000 - £39,999
	£40,000
	no data
	Factory
	County/Unitary boundaries
1998 data