Air Pollution

With a population of 72,514, the number of asthma suffers in Scunthorpe equates to 10,414.

Compare that to a major city such as Manchester. With a population of 2.55 MILLION, the number of asthma suffers in Manchester equates to 12,001.

3 people die everyday because of Asthma, which equates to 1200 deaths per year.

How can it be, that a rural town in Lincolnshire has an asthma rate so high, that 1 in 7 Scunthorpe residents suffer from asthma?

The WHO (World Health Organisation) has deemed Scunthorpe the second worst town in the whole of Britain for Air Pollution

“WHO said that across the world 80 per cent of cities that measure outdoor air pollution are failing to meet its guidance for safe levels of air quality.”

So how can it be, that a small rural town in the middle of the Lincolnshire surrounded by fields and rich agriculture can have such an abysmal rating when it comes to air pollution?

And more importantly what does it mean for the health and quality of life for the residents of Scunthorpe?

The UK is already facing heavy fines for illegal pollution levels.

According to the Asthma UK Data Portal, in 2015 the asthma rates in Scunthorpe make up 6.12% of the number of people registered with Asthma throughout the whole of the UK, including Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The rates in major cities with much higher populations include Manchester, which came in at 5.49%. Birmingham, which came in at 5.96% and Central London, which came in at 3.62%.

A link to the Asthma UK Data Portal can be found here

The Air Quality Progress Report 2014 that the North Lincolnshire Council released states the following:

Continuing problems have been highlighted within the local area relating to PM10 exceedances which previously resulted in the declaration of two Air Quality Management Areas (AQMA) as below:

2005 Scunthorpe AQMA for breaches of PM10 daily mean objective.
2008 Low Santon AQMA for breaches of the PM10 annual mean objective.

A link to the full report can be found here

So What is PM10 & PM2.5?

PM stands for Particulate Matter.

PM10 and PM2.5 are produced from industrial processes through bulk material handling such as combustion and minerals processing. The industries using these processes can include brickwork, refineries, cement works, iron and steel making, quarrying, and fossil fuel power plants.

The health effects include: