WARRINGTON has come top of a league table it would rather not be in at all – as the most contaminated town in the UK.
The borough has been identified as the town with the most contaminated land in the UK, with 1,759 sites totalling 41,603,277 square metres.
This is according to a survey carried out by ductwork, extraction and fabrication specialists Airmastic, who made freedom-of-information requests to local authorities across the country.
Disappointingly, Warrington came top of a Top 10 “league table” with 23 per cent of the borough said to consist of contaminated land.
Second in the list was Sefton, with 975,050 square meters of contaminated land.
Airmatic admit some towns were able to provide the number of contaminated sites but not the square meterage and some councils failed to provide the requested information.
As a result, the league table is based on the information they had available. All the towns in the Top 10 were from England apart from West Dunbartonshire in Scotland.
A spokesperson for Bury-based Airmatic said: “Warrington’s figure dwarfs every other position on the list, including second-placed Sefton.”
But the “league table” figures have to be treated with caution. For instance, Hull, which only just made it into the Top 10, was found to have the sixth least number of houses in the UK, which could affect the figures.
Warrington, with its lengthy industrial history and the massive amount of building that took place during the Warrington New Town era and ongoing rapid expansion since, is perhaps unfairly placed at the top of the list.
Airmatic say the study was undertaken at a time when businesses are considering the impact they are having on the environment, with stricter measures continually being introduced.
The spokesperson added: “With the ever-growing consciousness of the preservation of the earth, we’ve become a lot more aware of our impact on the environment around us in recent years. Are we becoming more mindful of not just what we put into the air around us, but equally importantly, what we’re putting into the ground? “
The company says its use of fully welded, stainless steel, promises a higher-performing solution.
Find out more about Airmatic by visiting: https://airmatic.co.uk/
