This divided land: An examination of regional inequalities in exposure to brownfield land and the association with morbidity and mortality in England

This paper is the first empirical examination of the association between brownfield land and spatial inequalities in health. Linear mixed modelling of ward-level data suggests that there is higher exposure and susceptibility to brownfield land in the Northern compared to the Southern regions (with the exception of London); that brownfield exposure has an association with regional inequalities in mortality and morbidity within regions (particularly in the North West); that brownfield has an association with inequalities between regions (particularly between the North West and the South East); but that brownfield land only makes a small independent contribution to the North-South health divide in England. However, brownfield land could be a potentially important and previously overlooked independent environmental determinant of spatial inequalities in health in England.