PLANNERS have unanimously approved a decontamination scheme for York’s former British Sugar site, giving a major boost to plans to build 1,100 new homes.

City of York Council planning committee members sought and received safety assurances today (Thursday, September 14) after a father raised concerns over toxic chemicals in The Press - but said they needed to give the green light to get the housing project moving.

Cllr Peter Dew said: “We need to get on with it.”

The committee was told that the remediation and levelling scheme for the former factory site would take between one and two years and would involve cleaning up the earth down to a depth of up to 13 metres.

A report had shown that elevated levels of ground gas, ammonia, petroleum hydrocarbons, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, asbestos and heavy metals had all been found at the site.

Councillors were told the treatment would involve exposing the contaminated earth and allowing bacteria to attack it.

The Press reported earlier today that a father feared local residents would be exposed to wind borne toxic chemicals, claiming this happened when an old gasworks site near their home was remediated more than a decade ago, causing long term health problems for his family. He called for refusal or deferral by the committee.

But British Sugar dismissed his concerns, saying the work would comply with modern standards and guidance for environmental protection, and a council official said the safety of residents and those working on the site was the authority’s priority.

Cllr Dew asked how the man’s concerns could be addressed, and Cllr Andy D’Agorne asked how residents would be protected from asbestos, which became dangerous when disturbed.

Lucie Watson, the council’s contaminated land officer, said the asbestos was where the former factory buildings were, and would be removed from the site and disposed of.

She said dust and odours would be monitored and if any problems arose they would be sorted out.

She said contamination was primarily on the northern part of the site, and added that ground gas found on the site was caused by dumped waste from the sugar beet cleaning process.

Committee chair Cllr Anne Reid said the site and its contamination were ‘totally different’ to the former gas works site referred to by the man.

Today’s decision comes just over a month after plans for an access road - running over the old Manor School playing fields to the site - were approved.