Pollution concerns in context: a comparison of local perceptions of the risks associated with living close to a road and a chemical factory

This paper examines accounts of the risks associated with living close to potential sources of pollution emphasizing the way in which discussion of the risk of pollution is informed by wider assessments of local life. In particular it highlights ways in which residents' accounts of local pollution often diverge from the way in which the problem is conceptualized by ‘outsiders’. Data are analysed from focus groups with lone mothers in two neighbourhoods facing clear local pollution problems – in one case from a factory and in the other from major roads. Detailed discussion is provided of how the issue of pollution fits into lone mothers' wider assessments of life within these neighbourhoods. The correlation between poor populations and pollution has recently been described by environmental groups such as Friends of the Earth as a problem of environmental injustice. The analysis suggests, however, that this description often has little resonance with those affected by local pollution and, as a consequence, may not provide the most profitable way of linking the environmental and social exclusion agendas.