POTENTIALLY contaminated land in Fulford is expected to be investigated by City of York Council.

The council's environmental protection unit has identified 42 acres of open land between Fulford Road and the River Ouse which is believed to have been used as a rubbish tip.

Councillors are now to be asked to approve plans to accept a grant of £38,634 from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to carry out a detailed investigation of land in the Fulford Cross area of the city. This will be used to ascertain whether there is any risk to human health or the environment, although environmental protection manager Mike Southcombe believes there is not.

He said: "Based on all the information we have at present, there is no risk to human health or the environment."

The land being investigated extends from the top of Love Lane in the south to the end of Fulford Cross in the north. An area adjacent to the river is thought to have been used to dispose of builders' rubble during the 1940s and 1950s while the land to the eastern side of the site is thought to have been used a dump for household rubbish during the 1970s.

The authority's environmental protection unit carried out a preliminary investigation at the site in Fulford Cross last year. The results indicated that landfill gas - a mixture of oxygen, carbon dioxide and methane - was present in the ground. As a result of these findings, an application was made to Defra for grant funding.

If members agree to accept the grant, it will be used to employ specialist contractors to carry out a detailed investigation of the site.

The meeting is on June 5.

Allotments at Fulford Cross hit the headlines in 2006 when people were warned not to eat vegetables grown on the land for fear it was contaminated with arsenic and lead. The allotments were eventually given the all clear last May.