from The Herald, 11 March 2010
An investigation is to be launched into allegations that toxic contamination from a secretive wartime factory in Lanarkshire is making local residents ill.
North Lanarkshire Council is planning to sample and monitor pollution near Watling Street in Motherwell. The area used to be the site of a munitions factory run by Metropolitan Vickers for the Ministry of Defence, and a waste dump.
Residents complain of severe headaches, nausea and diarrhoea. They are worried that they could be caused by heavy metal, radioactive and other contamination, and have hired a Glasgow law firm to represent them in pursuing legal action.
The lawyers, BMK Wilson, have assembled a team of experts, led by Robert Kalin, a professor of environmental engineering at Strathclyde University. They have also brought in the English lawyers, Des Collins and Danielle Holliday, who recently won a major court case against Corby Council on contamination at a former steelworks.
“Many residents are concerned that the ground underneath their homes may still be contaminated and that it is harming their health,” said Elizabeth Craigmyle a partner with BMK Wilson.
“There is evidence that the land has been polluted in the past from the Metropolitan Vickers plant and there is a landfill site which comprises debris from the factory ground. It’s very important to find out what risks, if any, there now are.”
She welcomed the investigation by North Lanarkshire Council. None of her clients had been aware that their houses had been built near a landfill site, and most were unaware of the former military factory.
“Metropolitan Vickers made munitions for the allied forces and x-ray equipment and the site was contaminated due to the use of many heavy metals. Evidence shows that the company was also involved in the production of luminisers using radiation.”
Craigmyle is representing ten families from Forum Place, Tiber Avenue and Marius Crescent in Motherwell. She is in possession of a title plan for the area which has an “outline of contaminated land” marked on it.
One local resident, Barrie Redington (62), has researched the history of the site and unearthed photographs and documentation about the munitions factory. He has also talked to former workers.
“I’m no expert but I think the factory is to blame for health problems,” he told The Herald. “A lot of us have been going to the doctor, falling ill with headaches, nose bleeds and other things.”
Redington claimed that one former worker had told him that drums of dangerous waste had been buried on the site. Many houses in the area were also “collapsing internally” because of subsidence, he said.
A leaflet raising concerns about the contamination has been circulated locally, and residents met with lawyers and experts last night.
“We are aware of concerns about this site,” said Charles Penman, a pollution control manager with North Lanarkshire Council.
“Evidence that claims to back these concerns lacks detail, however it is now being used as the basis of a leaflet campaign which has caused alarm and distress to some residents in the area.”
Speaking on behalf of the Clyde Valley Housing Association as well as the council, Penman added: “While all parties concerned in this complaint are satisfied the land was fit for purpose when it was built on some years ago, we are nonetheless taking this matter seriously.
“To alleviate residents’ concerns, a full investigation of site conditions is about to begin. The results of that investigation will be made publicly available.”
The investigation was welcomed by the Scottish public health minister, Shona Robison. “I appreciate the concerns that the residents have, and consider it essential that there should be a detailed investigation of the site,” said a spokesperson for the minister.
“This is the proper way to proceed, and I hope it will assure residents that the concerns are being addressed.”
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