Radon hotspots in Gloucestershire

[Dave Farrance]

Here's an excuse to ask a question in the Cheltenham & Gloucester
newsgroups.

I heard a rumour that there was a radon hotspot discovered a few years
ago about 5 miles south of Cheltenham, where that radioactive gas is
seeping into houses and is well above the "action level". Has anybody
else heard anything about that? Does anybody know which village?

After a websearch, I managed to find this...
http://www.hpa.org.uk/radiation/publications/newsletters/environmental_radon/index.htm
... which says in the introduction to newsletter Issue 8 (Autumn 1996):

"Some of the newly identified areas, such as in Avon, Gloucestershire,
Oxfordshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire, are underlain by the same
Jurassic rock formation that causes high levels [of Radon] in
Northamptonshire".

I searched around that site and found the "Radon Atlas of England and
Wales" which is quite a substantial document...
http://www.hpa.org.uk/radiation/publications/w_series_reports/2002/nrpb_w26.htm

Unfortunately, "the quaility (sic) of the maps has been downgraded to
permit ease of download", and I certainly did quail at the unreadable
blurred maps. The radon density is shown on a grid of blocks 10 km
across.

However on map-10, there is a single 10km block marked as the hotspot
south of Cheltenham, which as near as I can make out, spans Birdlip to
Whiteway from north to south, and Cranham to Brimpsfield from west to
east.

--
Dave Farrance