PM’s constituency in top 10 of water pollution ranking, investigation finds

Rishi Sunak is running for a constituency that has ranked in the top 10 for potential water pollution, an investigation has found.

Richmond and Northallerton – a new constituency in North Yorkshire following boundary changes – ranked ninth in data analysis by investigative journalism platform Watershed.

Mr Sunak was previously MP in the old Richmond (Yorkshire) constituency, which has now been split mostly into Richmond and Northallerton, with some of the original area going to Thirsk and Malton.

Researchers gathered data on UK waterways from official sources such as the Environment Agency as well as water companies and its own water testing.

The figures cover pollution risks from sources like sewage spills, nitrates, contamination from landfill sites and levels of PFAs – known as “forever chemicals” due to the long time they take to break down in the environment.

The researchers then combined these into a major interactive map that shows tens of thousands of ecological and chemical threats to individual waterways, rivers, coasts and lakes across Great Britain.

They also calculated a standardised “environmental health score” for each constituency based on the pollution threats indicated by the analysis.

The majority of the top 10 constituencies for poor environmental health were located in the north of England, according to the findings.

Thirsk and Malton in North Yorkshire, Penrith and Solway in Cumbria and Central Devon came joint highest, followed by Tatton in Cheshire in fourth.

Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor in County Durham, and Skipton and Ripon in North Yorkshire came in joint fifth.

In joint seventh was Selby and Wetherby and Easingwold – also in North Yorkshire, followed by Richmond and Northallerton in ninth and Chester South and Eddisbury in Cheshire in tenth.

The scores were adjusted for population and constituency size so that areas with more rivers or surface area were not unfairly penalised for being bigger than others.

Researchers said the map and data will continue to evolve over time, adding it currently may not show a complete picture.

Some constituencies may have scored better – due to having little or no scores in some of the areas of measurement – such as not being a nitrate vulnerable zone, no sampling of PFAs having taken place in the area, or having no river length at all.

For this reason, many London boroughs scored well in the water pollution rankings, the researchers noted.

The map has been published with a week to go before the General Election on July 4.

Britain’s water pollution crisis has become a major topic during the campaign, with the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats ramping up attacks on the “Conservative sewage scandal” last week.

Anger has been growing over the polluted state of England’s rivers and coasts in recent years, with no single stretch of river classed as being in a good overall condition, and hundreds of pollution risk alerts issued for popular beaches around the country last year.

Data from the Environment Agency for 2023 shows a 54% increase in the number of sewage spills compared with 2022, and a 13% increase compared with 2020.

The map can be found at: https://watershedinvestigations.com/home/find-out-whats-polluting-your-local-rivers-lakes-and-coast/

PA contacted the Conservative Party for comment.