Town council says it is taking Corby’s environmental concerns ‘very seriously’ and is seeking answers from the North unitary
Ahead of a Lib Dem motion to be heard at its meeting tonight, the Labour controlled authority has made a statement
By Sarah Ward
Corby’s Town Council says it wants answers from the unitary authority following a water survey which found heavy metals in the town’s freshwaters.
The authority, which until now has remained relatively silent on the environmental issue that is concerning many in the town, has released a statement this afternoon saying its Labour leader Simon Rielly has written to the Reform UK led North Northamptonshire Council.
His statement comes after a meeting of the council’s environment committee yesterday and ahead of a Lib Dem motion tonight calling for the authority to support the residents seeking answers and call on the organisations responsible for managing the contaminated land to work together.
In November, helped by national charity Earthwatch Europe, local residents tested locations at the three brooks that run through Corby to try and discover whether there is contamination in the water. This was due to fears that toxic contamination still in the land from the clean up of the steelworks in the 1980s and 1990s is possibly causing health issues today.
The testing found that all 59 sites tested had a heavy metal presence and there were hotspots of cadmium and nickel in two areas of the town that are close to the site where the toxic waste was taken and to a former slag heap where steel waste was stored. The testing has not made any conclusions on what impact the metals could have on human health but the charity said the metals found can impact aquatic life.
