Contaminated land case study - Birmingham

An MP representing residents living in houses built on a former landfill site has once again criticised the council for delays in remediating the land.

Birmingham City Council received initial approval from the Government to carry out further investigations in July 2006, yet has taken the decision to postpone the start of the work on 74 homes in the residential area of Hall Green, until early 2007.

The site, which made national headlines in The Daily Mail and The Times during the summer of 2005, was discovered to have elevated levels of arsenic, lead, cadmium and nickel in 2004. At the time the council wrote to families, warning them that their gardens were so contaminated that children should not be allowed to play outside, especially girls, because of infertility risks linked to chemicals in the soil.

Since then house prices have plummeted and the land has remained contaminated. Worried by the apparent lack of action in the case, local MP Steve McCabe took up the issue at the beginning of 2006, complaining that the council were not moving quickly enough to settle the issue. In his latest outburst Mr McCabe said residents had been let down by numerous delays including plans to wait until after Christmas to make the land safe. "From all parts of the council, from the council leader right though to every single councillor to the officers, they do not think this is a priority. If it was their property, it would have been done by now".

It now appears certain this case will drag into a third year before residents finally see their properties cleaned up and their gardens pronounced safe.

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