Friday brief: Calls for council to be ‘open and transparent’ about Corby’s contaminated land
Corby’s long standing toxic scandal resurfaces in the council chamber, plus other news from across Northants
Calls have been made for Corby’s director of public health to look into contaminated land in Corby and whether it is still affecting people today.
Long-standing Labour councillor Mark Pengelly hit out at the council’s director of public health Jane Bethea, at a full council meeting on Wednesday, criticising the failure to tackle health equalities in the former steel town, which are seeing many die much younger than in other parts of the county.
He questioned whether the contaminated land in the industrial areas of the town, part of a botched reclamation clean up that led to some Corby children suffering birth defects, is a factor.
He said the issue was a ‘massive concern’ in the town and warned the authority not to ignore it as it had done in the past.
Following the Toxic Town Netflix series this spring, which was based on the lives of a group of families who fought the council to prove their child’s birth defects were caused by toxic waste, the issue has come to public consciousness again, with many people questioning whether their health issues could be due to toxic waste and dangerous metals.
There have been calls for a public enquiry by some families alongside solicitor Des Collins who won the original case in 2009.
Cllr Pengelly said:
“People are asking where certain substances were dumped. The council has to be open and transparent with people asking these questions.
“I don’t know if there is contaminated land in Corby, we don’t know, but there is enough worry and concern with groups forming all over Corby saying that their kids have got cancer and other things because of this. So let’s as a council tackle this.
“I remember 24 years ago getting an email from the legal officer of Corby Borough Council saying there’s a guy going around [Des Collins], he’s asking about birth defects, it’s not going to go anywhere. We as a council ended up paying millions of pounds.
“So what we have to do is work with the public and the town and tackle why Corby people die earlier than people in other towns- it’s wrong.”
As NN Journal reported in November 2023, a council report about contaminated sites in North Northamptonshire ignored any mention of Corby, despite its history. In the 1980s and 1990s the town underwent the largest clean up in Europe, with contractors transferring toxic waste located in ponds across the town and burying it in underground cells.
A councillor queried why the sites were not mentioned in the 2023 report and an officer said there were lots of contaminated sites in Corby but they were not listed and were ‘commercially sensitive’.
Solicitor Des Collins has recently followed up on this list and is awaiting an answer. The council have been approached for comment about what Cllr Pengelly said in the council chamber.
A group of families, who think they may have been affected by toxic waste and metals, met this week at an event spearheaded by Tracey Taylor and Maggie Mahon, two of the mothers who were part of the original court action. NN Journal will have a special report next week.
By Sarah Ward and Nadia Lincoln, local democracy reporter
News in brief
A Conservative called meeting to discuss how to remove asylum seekers from three Northants hotels has been cancelled.
The tory group on West Northants Council had put forward a motion asking the authority to instruct lawyers to seek an interim injunction against the Ibis Hotel, Crick, the Holiday Inn, Flore, and the MK Hotel, Deanshanger which are all accommodating people awaiting their asylum applications to be decided.
The motion was due to be discussed on September 16 but has been withdrawn following the authority’s planning action against the hotels. The Reform UK run authority served planning contravention notices on the hotel owners giving them 21 days to respond. This is despite the Epping hotel ruling to remove residents being overturned by the court of appeal.
The Deanshanger hotel had an anti-migrant protest last Saturday which was countered by local residents who are in support of the asylum seekers.
A Northampton religious leader has been charged this week under forced marriage legislation with illegally allowing two children to marry each other.
Ashraf Osmani, 52, of Abington Avenue, Northampton, will appear at Northampton Magistrates Court on Thursday (September 11) charged under Section 121 of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act, as amended by the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Act 2022.
It is alleged Osmani conducted a Nikah marriage ceremony in November 2023, involving two 16-year-old children at the Central Mosque Northampton, where he is the serving Imam, the Mosque’s most senior Muslim cleric.
Three councillors on West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) have been issued positive criminal records checks in the last 18 months.
According to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request submitted by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the authority has requested 141 Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks on its members since April 2024. The checks determine if an individual has any past criminal convictions, cautions, reprimands, warnings or information held by police forces.
WNC has revealed that two positive disclosure certificates, which are given when an individual’s record flags up relevant content or offences, were issued in 2024/25 and another one was issued in 2025/26.
Only one positive check relates to an existing councillor in post after the May elections. A WNC spokesperson said that the outstanding disclosure certificate was reviewed by the monitoring officer, who found there was no breach of the Code of Conduct and no further action was deemed necessary.
The majority of the checks requested were standard DBSs, which show spent and unspent convictions and adult cautions from the Police National Computer.
There were 63 councillors who received an enhanced DBS check due to their roles and responsibilities around children and/or vulnerable adults. This shows the same content as a standard check, plus any information held by local police that is considered relevant to the role.
This comes after WNC approved a strengthened DBS policy in July last year, making all sitting councillors subject to criminal record checks for the first time.
The policy followed increased scrutiny over allegations of abuse against the ex-leader Jonathan Nunn, which he always denied, and was a strong demand from members of the public and local charities. Adam Brown, who had just taken the position as the new Council leader at the time, said he hoped introducing the checks would help to “establish trust” in the Council.
Due to a strict confidentiality clause in the DBS policy, WNC cannot name the members that the three positive disclosure certificates relate to. It is an offence under the Police Act 1997 to pass disclosure information to unauthorised persons and failure to maintain confidentiality could result in disciplinary action.
The WNC policy explains:
“All allegations may have far-reaching consequences for the Councillor in question and others. It is therefore essential that all information is kept strictly confidential and only disclosed on a ‘need to know’ and lawful basis.”
The only people who are made aware of positive criminal record checks are the individual concerned, the monitoring officer, Chief Executive, and the Local Authority Designated Officer and Leader of the Council, when relevant. External advice may also be sought to ensure the safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults.
It is understood that WNC is still waiting for some checks to be completed by the DBS service at the time of publication.
By Nadia Lincoln
Westminster Watch
Corby’s MP has said the ‘defensiveness in public services’ needs to end and highlighted the fight of a family to get justice for their daughter.
Taking part in a Westminster Hall debate this week about a public duty of candour the Lee Barron MP said he said the Hillsborough Law, which would place a duty on public workers to act in the public interest is needed.
He said:
“In Corby and East Northamptonshire, many constituents feel let down. Zena and Nicola Stanton spent years campaigning for Jorgie, Nicola’s daughter and Zena’s granddaughter, who died in Kettering general hospital in 2016. A coroner later found that hospital staff failed on five separate occasions in Jorgie’s care. That led to dehydration, sepsis, multiple organ failure and ultimately her death.
“Zena and Nicola never gave up. They exposed the unhealthy culture in the ward, later confirmed in a report. Senior staff have now admitted mistakes. I believe that without that family’s fight, the truth may never have come out. I am glad that we finally secured meetings and apologies for them, but victims should not have to fight for years and rely on their MP simply to be heard. Families like Jorgie’s are fighting for every other family who will come to rely on that same ward.
“We need reporting systems that reveal failures quickly. Hospitals and other public services should have transparency. I also believe that this is about culture. We need to end defensiveness in public services. It is wrong that public bodies spend unlimited taxpayer money fighting victims. Staff must also feel free to speak up and speak out. For Jorgie’s, Zena’s and Nicola’s sake, let us deliver a Hillsborough law worthy of its name, which makes candour a duty, gives families fair representation and ensures that yesterday’s injustices never become tomorrow’s.”
Jorgie died before her second birthday after failings at Kettering General Hospital’s children’s ward.
Congratulations to Mark Pengelly for pushing hard on this issue. Not before time.