Planning your Staycation trip? THESE are the areas with the best air pollution rates in the UK

Ever wondered where has the cleanest air in Britain? holidaycottages.co.uk has analysed* air pollution rates across the UK to reveal the areas with the lowest levels overall, creating an interactive tool revealing the places with the best air pollution rates per region in the UK.

According to the IQ Air report[1] which was used to conduct the study, the UK has an average air pollution rating of 10.5µg, which is defined as ‘good’. What’s more, the UK ranks in the top 25% of lowest air pollution rates in the whole world, ranking 21st out of 89 countries for having the cleanest air.

84% of Brits say they are considering a staycation this year [2], and with air pollution having a noticeable impact on peoples health, it’s a great factor to consider when planning your trip!

But which part of the UK has the cleanest air? The top ten regions in the UK with the lowest air pollution rates, based on the average ranking of each town, city and village, are:

Midlothian, Scotland (5.1)
Wiltshire, England (5.4)
Berkshire, England (5.8)
Perthshire, Scotland, and Gwynedd, Wales (6.1)
Lanarkshire, Scotland (6.3)
Pembrokeshire, Wales (6.4)
Stirlingshire, Fife, Clackmannan, and City of Dundee, Scotland (6.5)
City of Edinburgh, Scotland (6.6)
Renfrewshire, Scotland (6.7)
Ayrshire, Scotland (6.8)

Midlothian has the honour of being named the area with the cleanest air in Britain, with an average ranking of 5.1µg. Just south of Edinburgh, Midlothian offers a rural escape with plenty of things to see and explore, including the Pentland Hills and Rosslyn Chapel.

In second place is Wiltshire, with the picturesque market town of Marlborough holding an air quality ranking of just 5.4µg. Berkshire comes in third place thanks to the somewhat surprising low air quality rating of Slough, coming in at just 5.8µg – the only large town in England to feature on the list. The rest of the top ten is populated by Scottish and Welsh locations.

Despite this list, it’s important to note that so many other popular areas in the UK such as Anglesey (7.3µg average), Scottish Highlands (8.3µg average), and Cornwall (9.25µg average) all had average rankings within the WHO target at less than 10µg too; it just so happens that air pollution rates are so good in the UK – a promising statistic!

In fact, of the 126 towns, villages and cities analysed in the report, 75 were ranked as meeting the WHO target (59%), and a further 37 (29%) were ranked as good – that’s 88% of towns and cities overall being marked as within target or good.

Commenting on the findings, Shannon Keary, Digital PR Manager at holidaycottages.co.uk, says: “Air pollution and a greener environment continues to be a huge talking point for many people in the UK, and, in this campaign, we wanted to reveal where in the UK has the lowest air pollution. It’s really promising to see that so many of our towns, cities and villages have such clean air, and it’s especially great to see that a huge 88% of the UK has low air pollution rankings that are either within the WHO target or are rated ‘good’.

“We have also created an interactive tool that allows people to find out the areas in their region with the cleanest air in an easily digestible format and then they can compare it with that of their friends and family across the UK.”