NEW HEALTH SCARE AT TIP
A COCKTAIL of deadly chemicals is leaking into the River Calder from the controversial Welbeck Tip, environmental campaigners have claimed.
Environment Agency chiefs have admitted problems existed with chemical detection systems but deny the site is a health hazard.
The detection problem surrounded the movement of leachates - chemicals created from the breakdown of waste in landfill sites - which must be siphoned off and decontaminated.
In a letter to Normanton MP Bill O Brien, the Environment Agency said: Monitoring has identified some limitations in the construction of the leachate collection/leak detection systems that are currently under investigation by the agency.
Paul Dainton, chairman of RATS (Residents Against Toxic Scheme), claims deadly liquids leaking into the Calder were to blame for the deaths of thousands of fish last year and he is calling for a public enquiry into the running of the tip.
And Yorkshire Wildlife Rescue Centre member Steve Gray has received several reports of birds becoming ill at the site.
He said: We have seen birds drinking surface water at the tip then turn round and start vomiting.
The whole of Kirkthorpe is a conservation area, this could spell disaster for a great number of wildlife.
Welbeck Tip, located on a two-mile-long island between the River Calder and the Calder and Navigation Canal, has been dogged by problems since it opened two years ago, including fly and seagull infestations.
Mr Dainton said: This is an extremely dangerous situation. The River Calder will be contaminated from Wakefield to Hull if this stuff hits the water.
A spokesman for the site operators, Waste Recycling Group (WRG), said: At Welbeck all environmental monitoring data is submitted to the Environment Agency.
The agency has confirmed that this data has not identified any pollution of the environment.
In recent months, works have been carried out on the leachate collection system in consultation with the Environment Agency. This is a fully self-contained system and WRG can confirm that this work has not caused any pollution of the environment and poses no threat of harm to human health.
An Environment Agency spokesman said the chemical detection system fault had been fixed.
The monitoring is designed to identify areas of potential risk to the environment so pollution can be prevented before it happens.
In November last year Eastmoor father-of-two Robin Stocks won 1,000 compensation after RATS won a test case against Wakefield Council.
The local Government Ombudsman ruled the council misled Mr Stocks when it sent him a leaflet reassuring him the site would only be used for household waste.
The tip s licence allows dumping of thousands of tons of toxic material including asbestos, arsenic and cyanide.
Waste Recycling Group admitted at the time sludge from industrial processes and small amounts of asbestos were being dumped at the site.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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