Sponsored by
Poison timebomb: Thousands of plots of Calderdale land contaminated... and one in five is leaking
A COUNCIL survey has shown Calderdale has more than 6,400 plots of land which could be contaminated – and at least one in five is leaking.
Environmental health chief Peter Ramsdale says further tests will be needed to find out whether the gas and liquid escapes are significant.
If they are, it could cost millions of pounds to put right – money which the council says it does not have.
Tackling contamination, pollution and other health issues relating mainly to former refuse tips has been made high priority by the council.
Five former tips are regularly monitored for possible gas emissions and particular attention is being paid to the former Scout Road tip, at Mytholmroyd, which was also used as an asbestos waste dump.
Making safe a similar tip at Pecket Well, Hebden Bridge, where waste from the notorious Acre Mill asbestos factory was dumped cost more than 2.5 million.
"A risk assessment initially showed a total of 6,457 sites of concern belonging to the council and the private sector," said Mr Ramsdale, in a report to the council's health and social care panel.
"This resulted in 1,257 sites with pollutant leakage but to identify whether this is significant, it will be necessary to undertake detailed site examinations and risk assessments.
"The remaining 5,200 sites might also be contaminated but because there is no pollutant leakage, they do not pose a risk."
He said getting to grips with the problem has been slow because contaminated sites often involved large areas of land and some contained deadly asbestos waste.
"The engineering solutions are complex, as are the health and safety issues."
Most of the work done to cure contamination problems is done when developers submit plans to find new uses for the land.
During 2006/7, environmental health officers were consulted on 737 schemes involving contaminated land and 63 of those schemes were considered inadequate.
The scrutiny panel will be told on Wednesday the council does not have a budget for sorting out contaminated land and relies totally on Government grants.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Halifax
Thursday 09 February 2012
Today
Light snow
Temperature: -0 C to 1 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: West
Tomorrow
Light snow
Temperature: -2 C to 0 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: South
