Contaminated land in Wales - our research
We reviewed publicly available data and submitted Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to all 22 Welsh councils, asking them to release their register of contaminated land.
In late 2024, Friends of the Earth Cymru and our network of Local Action Groups issued Freedom of Information requests to all 22 local authorities in Wales.
We asked each council what information they kept on contaminated and potentially contaminated sites.
We also did our own research to find out what information is publicly available on councils' websites and looked at what studies have been undertaken in the past.
It's important to state that we don't know for sure how many contaminated land sites there are in Wales or how much they pose a risk to our health, but this research gives us an indication of the scale of the problem, and serves to show that more research is needed.
Below are our findings - overall and for each local authority.