FUTURE generations of Leamington children need to be safeguarded from a ticking “time bomb” of potentially devastating pollution.
That’s the warning from a concerned local councillor, who fears the clean up of Leamington’s Ford Foundry site could lead to disastrous effects, like those faced by youngsters in Northamptonshire.
It also emerged this week that redevelopment plans for the Leamington site have come to a grinding halt.
Corby Borough Council has been found negligent in its redevelopment of a former steel works, which may have led to birth defects in 16 children.
Warwick District Council is being warned not to let the same mistakes happen when the Ford site redevelopment finally gets underway.
At a council meeting last week, Councillor Elizabeth Higgins (Cons, Warwick West) put forward a question to Cllr Felicity Bunker, Portfolio Holder for the Environment, asking: “Now that the High Court has ruled that the group of 16 families in Corby can sue Corby Borough Council for failing to clear up toxic waste left behind by the demolition of the town’s old steelworks in the mid-1980s; please could WDC ensure that the demolition and clearance of the Ford Foundry site, with investment by AWM, is carried out in a clean and secure manner.”
The High Court ruling means the way has now been cleared for the Corby youngsters to try and prove their particular disabilities were caused by the council’s failings, with compensation to follow if they succeed.
Mrs Higgins added: “I was worried about the demolition, and clear up of Ford Foundry that something similar to Corby might happen. So much of the land there is polluted, we’re sitting on a time bomb.
“The Corby situation horrified me, but I’m assured the law is so different now, and I’m told that closed containers will be used at the Ford Foundry site, so there will be no white cloud of asbestos.
“Environmental health laws are much stronger now too, so there should be no problem. We don’t even know when the clean up is going to take place yet. But the Corby ruling was so high profile – the thought of something like that happening here was just ghastly.”
It is just over two years since 400 workers at the foundry site clocked out for the last time, after six decades of production.
Last year a draft planning brief was put forward to transform the 50 acre station area in Leamington. It was to include the Ford land, plus the wider area around the station, including the former Quicks garage site.
The Ford site was earmarked for offices, a hotel, and flats.
The motor giant has yet to sell the site, which it bought in 1940.
Oliver Rowe, company spokesman, said: “While the company has been in a series of negotiations with interested parties, the economic situation has had a huge impact on the Leamington property market, which explains no sale to date.”
A spokesman for Warwick District Council added: “Currently there is no interest in the development market. The whole thing has stopped. Unless Ford have a plan – it’s up to them, and whoever buys the site. But at the minute, it’s dead in the water.”
The draft plans also suggested building a technology park on land along Old Warwick Road, as well as car parking for the railway station, and environmental improvements.
Mrs Higgins said: “There are big plans for the future, it’s just a lack of finance, which is a shame because there are 45 acres of brownfield land in Leamington, which is just amazing.”
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