£22,000 focus on former landfill sites (From York Press)

£22,000 focus on former landfill sites in York

9:28am Saturday 27th October 2012 in News By Mark Stead, Political Reporter

FORMER landfill sites in York are to be checked for contamination after council bosses secured almost £22,000 in funding for the work.

The Environment Agency grant will be used to carry out a study of the now-closed sites off Foxwood Lane as the first step in a wider analysis by City of York Council of whether land in the city has become polluted over the years.

The authority, like others across the country, is required by the Environmental Protection Act to inspect areas which are their responsibility for possible contamination and clean up anything which might pose a risk to the public.

An application for the funding, totalling £21,931, was made to the agency last December and the money has now been received. The council said it had drawn up a priority list of sites which need to be studied, with those in the Foxwood area at the top.

The land off Foxwood Lane was previously used as a brickworks, with clay pits, from the mid-19th century until the 1940s. The disused pits were then filled with waste material over the next 30 years and the council said this may have contaminated the area.

“The council has already started sampling the site and is due to complete its investigation next March,” said Lucie Hankinson, the authority’s senior contaminated land officer.

“The initial results are reassuring, as they do not reveal significant levels of contamination. However, if these levels are discovered during the course of our investigation, it will be cleaned up to ensure there is no risk to people or the environment.”

The council said the work surrounding the former landfill sites in Foxwood involved taking soil, water and ground gas samples from Hob Moor, Acorn Rugby League Club and the playing fields next to Foxwood Lane, which will help officers ascertain whether there is any contamination.