Worthing named second cleanest town in England

Worthing has been labelled the country's second cleanest town, following an in-depth environmental study.

The town was only pipped by Exeter, in Devon, in the rankings of the country's 55 largest primary urban centres in the ENDS REPORT index, which is based on more than 30 environmental factors grouped into five categories.

These are air quality, climate, water quality, public realm and green behaviour. Nearby Sussex neighbour Brighton was named third.

Worthing ranked highly on climate in the study. According to the data, the town has the highest volume of installed renewable electricity capacity per 10,000 households of any of England's primary urban areas, and the second lowest CO2 emissions per capita.

However, despite the impressive ranking, Cllr Edward Crouch, Worthing Borough Council's Executive Member for Digital and Environmental Services, insisted there is still much more to do.

He said: "It is fantastic news to be ranked so highly and gaining recognition for being such a clean town and is recognition for all the work that has been done by the Council, businesses and residents."

"Together with Adur District Council and other neighbouring authorities, we have worked incredibly hard to become more environmentally friendly, but that work is only just beginning and the journey to become even cleaner and greener still has a long way to go."

"We are very fortunate to live where we do but there is so much more we can still do to improve our record even further and ensure the town and surrounding areas continue to get even cleaner, now and for future generations."

Jamie Carpenter, editor of ENDS Report, said: "The Clean Cities Index is intended to start a debate about the state of the environment in our biggest towns and cities, and shine a spotlight on some of the wide environmental disparities that exist between them."

Worthing Borough Council has displayed its commitment to becoming greener and protecting the natural environment with a string of initiatives, as well as setting the target of becoming carbon neutral by 2030.