Environmental justice: proximity to industrial pollution, derelict sites and poor river water quality

Please note that the following graphs are recreated from a 2005 report by Fairburn et al on environmental justice in Scotland commissioned by SNIFFER (Scotland and Northern Ireland Forum for Environmental Research). The study found a strong correlation between deprivation and industrial pollution, derelict land and river water quality, although the relationship between deprivation and landfills, quarries and open cast sites was less clear. 

Three examples of some of the data analysed in the report are presented here. However, for a more detailed analysis of the subject matter, please refer to the full report.

Click on the chart(s) below to view a full-sized detailed version in a new window

Chart 1 shows the clear relationship between deprivation (as measured by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD)) and proximity to industrial sites with potentially significant levels of polluting emissions. A clear gradient is visible across the ten deprivation groupings, ranging from just 6% of the population in the least deprived decile living within 1km of an IPPC site (i.e. a site falling within the scope of the Industrial Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) Directive), up to 20% of the population in the most deprived decile.

A deprivation gradient also exists in relation to proximity to derelict land, as shown in Chart 2. Those living in the most deprived areas (deprivation decile 10) are almost three times as likely to live within 1 km of derelict land than those living in the least deprived areas (deprivation decile 1): 83% compared to 30% respectively.