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Pollution incidents to land in the North West

The number of pollution incidents with an impact on land reported in the North West region has continued to fall for a number of years.

In 2007, the number of substantiated pollution incidents with an impact on land was less than half the number reported in 2003. This is part of a long term downward trend in the numbers of all pollution incidents.

At a glance

Some significant facts emerged from our analysis of the pollution incidents reported to us in 2007 that had an impact on land:

  • Although the overall number of substantiated incidents is falling, there were 37 incidents classified as having a serious impact on land, representing 6.7% of the total number. 
  • We had the first major (Category 1) pollution incident to land in recent years. It was caused by an unauthorised waste management activity.
  • 40% of all incidents to land were caused by unauthorised activities, such as the illegal depositing of waste, or storage of waste in unlicensed premises. This is down from 48% in 2006.
  • The number of fly-tipping incidents reported has decreased substantially over recent years, and there was a dramatic fall from 121 in 2006 to only 64 in 2007.
  • We were unable to identify the polluters responsible for 40% of the incidents. This includes unauthorised activities such as fly-tipping.
  • Unauthorised waste management activity accounts for 52% of the total number of incidents to land attributed to unauthorised activity.

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