Geography of Sheffield - Pollution

Pollution

The pollution problem was at its most severe in the 1960s, when Sheffield was one of the most polluted cities in Europe. Since that time, due to council measures started in the 1950s and an increase in efficiency in the steel industry, it has improved greatly. In a 2005 survey Tinsley (48 parts per billion (ppb) of oxides of nitrogen (NOx)) still came 9th in a ranking of the UK pollution hotspots, while the city centre (43 ppb of NOx) remained above the government's recommended level of 21ppb NOx.

It is, however, important to evaluate several aspects of air pollution, and especially to take into consideration overall average values, rather than localized peak values sometimes cited. The UK National Air Quality Information Archive offers almost real-time monitoring "current maximum" air pollution measurements for Sheffield (City Centre and Tinsley districts) as well as many other UK towns and cities.

The European Commission's COST Action C11 (COST- European Cooperation in Science and Technology) cites, in its conclusions on "Case studies in Greenstructure Planning" involving 15 European countries:-

" Sheffield is fortunate to have one of the strongest green structures of any city in the UK. This green structure, which at its core is linked by watercourses, underlies the City. The effectiveness of the river system as the core of the green structure is supplemented by: the agricultural area, the moorland, the woodlands and water features which lie outside the built-up area. The public open spaces within the built-up area and extensive private gardens, which cover much of the surface of the City outside its core area, are also linked to this system ",

and

" All the features of the green structure in effect work together to make the City more environmentally sustainable: for example, together they act as a sponge to reduce flash flooding; they support a relatively high level of biodiversity, particularly because of the extent of the gardens and the existence of the natural corridors along the rivers; the valleys drain cooler air down from the hilltops towards the city centre and the industrial areas beyond, improving air quality and also temperatures in the summer in the built-up core ".