Toxic town impact as most high-risk contaminated sites unchecked

BBC found that thousands of sites that are likely to be contaminated with toxic chemicals in Britain were not examined by the councils.

Nine of 10 “highly dangerous” areas have not been tested by councils that respond to the request for freedom of information from the BBC. Scientists are afraid that they will pose health risks as they are believed to contain substances such as bullets or arsenic.

The BBC joint data unit found 13,093 Poisonous sites The councils were identified as high risk, only 1465 have been examined.

The UK government said that the local unified authorities had a legal duty to inspect the sites that could be contaminated, but the councils claim that they do not have money to do so.

the Environmental Protection Law The councils require the inclusion of all possible polluted sites, and to examine high -risk sites to ensure that people and property are not in danger.

But after contacting all 122 unified authorities in Wales, Scotland and England about its polluted lands, 73 responded to the request of the joint information unit for the data unit that revealed the presence of 430,000 possible locations in the early first decade of the twentieth century.

Among them, 13,093 high risks, which experts said should have been undergoing physical test. However, more than 11,000 of them remain unanswered to this day.

Half of the BBC 22 boards told that they could not or will not give us numbers – but those that have arisen, set 698 severe sites, 586 of which were examined.

The search comes after launching New Netflix toxic Town drama That tells the story of families fighting for justice after one The largest environmental scandal in the United Kingdom.

The BBC results raises new questions about what was left under our feet from the heavy industrial past in the United Kingdom.

“What we do not do in this country is to conduct a full economic evaluation on the cost of things, including health and who feels almost a crime,” said Dr. Ian Modway, the leading expert in the effect of pollution on human health.

“I am not sure that we have achieved the scratching point.”

The polluted land is a site that may have been contaminated from its previous use – it could have been a factory, an electricity plant, a railway line, a waste dump site, a gasoline station or dry cleaning workers.

If you live in a property created after 2000, any pollution problems must be covered through updated planning laws.

But if you live in a drug created before 2000, the rules are less clear.

Where Robin Morris lives home to more than 400 abandoned metal mines in Wales, which are three rivers, Ystwyth, Rheidol and Clarach are some of the most rivers in the United Kingdom.

CWMYSTWYTH dates back to the north of CEREDIGION to the Bronze Age and were abandoned in 1950, but it spoils including a high level of zinc, cadmium, lead in landscapes and pollution of the YSTWYTH River below.

Many local populations, such as Robin, have installed filtration systems if they received their water from the hills where the old mines were.

“We have installed a pre -filtering system and make sure it will take everything at all,” he said.

The British Broadcasting Corporation took a sample of the soil from the Robin Park on the bank of YSTWYTH and revealed a very high bulletproof reading – much higher than the safe level of gardens.

“It causes the warning bells resonance,” Robin BBC Wales told the investigations.

“In light of the shapes of your soil sample, we should have stopped growing vegetables for a long time.”

It is just one sample, but it seems that other things that have occurred in the past are more logical.

Robin added: “We had ducks and chicken, and two ducks are lame, and we consulted the veterinarian, and I believe that it is due to lead pollution.”

The CEREDIGION Council said he was connected to the National Resources of the Environmental Authority in Wales to constantly assess the health impact of the inheritance of the region’s mining.

Dr. Mudway insists on the presence of “No safe level” It is bullets and informed BBC that it may affect children’s growth, as well as kidney and vascular diseases in adults.

“There is nothing more than a chemical forever from bullets,” added an environmental toxin specialist at Imperial London.

“This is a danger that has not disappeared and is still a clear and present danger to the population.

“It is one of the few chemical entities that we can calculate the burden of global disease – between half a million to less than a million early deaths per year due to the shooting of our environment.

“When you talk about the cost of ensuring that the land is safe … the money costs in advance.

“The costs of possible health effects, especially if they contribute to the chronic diseases that people live for for 10 or 20 years, or the costs of land treatment, after you realize that they are high -level, the profits achieved at the other end of that course are stunt.

“The health cost is barely considered at all.”

When Monon Chiswell was a little girl suddenly stopped talking – doctors advised her family that she was showing many features with autism.

I have memories of close monitoring in Metrin [nursery]”I have always had an adult,” Monon, 20, said.

“I couldn’t speak … they had to use the traffic lights system, yes or no cards to redirect me and help me communicate.”

But the blood test later found high levels of lead in Monon’s blood.

She was not with autism, she was poisoned.

Her father, Hu Chiswell, believes that Monanon is likely to poison at his home in Cardiff, who was near an old industrial site.

“She used to eat the earth [as a toddler] In the garden, “he said.

“There were railways lines that were not far from where we were living at that time, so it is difficult to extract any other conclusions, because once I stopped eating, it became better.”

But it is not only related to bullets – a Government report It indicates that the sites that make up the largest health risks were contaminated with chemicals such as arsenic, nickel, chrome and the Pahs in the soil or water.

Activists want a new law forcing the councils to keep a public record for all possible polluting sites.

Pareded by my parents A seven -year -old boy died due to toxic gas After the Thames was immersed in its house in 2014, and they believe that the fumes came from the near waste landfill.

The Zane Law – named after Zane Gbangbola – also calls for measures like more money for councils to determine and test possible sites.

“You have to know that it is before you can protect yourself,” said Abi Zan Kai Gibangola, who was left after poisoning.

“So that we have the ZANE law, people will remain without protection.”

When the regulations became the most strict about dealing with lands that are likely to be legally contaminated 25 years ago, the minister who pushed them to do so.

Now John Silwin Gomer feels that the UK government financing means that the inspections are much lower.

“There is no way for local authorities to carry out this task without enjoying resources,” said Lord Deep.

“Successive governments have been eager by the work that we have to do.”

Many BBC boards have told the financing the reason they stopped checking the potential polluted lands.

Phil Hartley was one of the hundreds of officers all over the United Kingdom who used to check the potential sites as a pollution officer in the former Newcastle Council.

He said that the removal of the central government grant led to a “collapse” in the checks.

Hartley said: “Since the money was very dried up, a very few councils are proactive in search of contaminated land sites because the council does not want to risk it.”

“There is a possibility that some people will be threatened, and this is not great.”

The UK government said that the local authorities were on a legal duty to inspect the potential pollutants, and require treatment and maintain a general record of the treated lands.

“Any risk to public health from polluted lands is serious,” said a spokesman for the Ministry of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

They also asked the Environment Agency to submit a new report from polluted lands to provide “the best possible basis line for data to measure future policies related to polluted lands against.”

The bodies representing the councils in Wales and England alike said that the lack of money means that they cannot fulfill their duty.

The Local Wales Association told the local government that while the Wales 22 councils took responsibility for verifying sites “seriously”, the progress was “increasingly restricted by the lack of specialized financing and specialized resources.”

“Without sufficient financing, the councils will continue to struggle to provide important services – with devastating consequences for those who depend on them,” said the local government association in England.

You can see the secret of Britain’s poisonous on BBC iplayer And BBC One on Thursday, March 13 at 20:30 GMT