Crap TownsBritain's towns, rated by the people stuck in them

Crap Towns / Blackburn / Pollution incidents

How often does Blackburn get polluted?

19 serious pollution incidents have been recorded in Blackburn or within 1 km of it since 2016, the joint 33rd most of the 948 English towns that have had one. 2 were major, the worst kind. The most recent came in April 2025 and put specific waste material on the land. Smoke turned up in 5 of them.

The incidents
WhenWhatWhereImpact
April 2025Specific waste materialOn the landSignificant
March 2025Firefighting run-off and organic chemical or productIn the airSignificant
June 2024SlurryIn the waterMajor
April 2024An unidentified pollutantIn the airSignificant
September 2023SmokeIn the airSignificant
October 2022Soil and clayIn the waterSignificant
April 2021Firefighting run-off and smokeIn the airSignificant
November 2020Soil and clayOn the landSignificant
October 2019Building rubble and soil and clayOn the landSignificant
July 2019Contaminated building rubble and soil and clayOn the landSignificant
May 2019Firefighting run-offIn the airSignificant
April 2019General biodegradable material or wasteOn the landSignificant
January 2019Contaminated building rubbleOn the landSignificant
November 2017SmokeIn the water, on the land and in the airMajor
August 2017SmokeIn the airSignificant
May 2017SmokeIn the airSignificant
December 2016Commercial wasteOn the land and in the airSignificant
April 2016Commercial wasteOn the landSignificant
February 2016Building rubbleOn the landSignificant
Nearby towns
TownDistanceSerious incidents since 2016
Clayton-le-Moors7.5 km53
Great Harwood6.8 km43
Accrington8.1 km19
Blackburn–19
Bamber Bridge12.4 km16
Church6.3 km11
Oswaldtwistle5.6 km6
Darwen5.6 km3
Haslingden12.0 km3
Longridge12.3 km2
Rishton5.0 km2