Posted: Mon 23rd Mar 2015

Wrexham Householders Assured They Won’t Carry Cost Of Contaminated Land

Wrexham.com for people living in or visiting the Wrexham area
This article is old - Published: Monday, Mar 23rd, 2015

Home owners in Wrexham who faced spending thousands of pounds on the clean-up of lead contamination found in their gardens have been assured they will not to foot the bill.

Residents in parts of Coedpoeth and Brymbo have been campaigning against paying thousands of pounds to remove contaminated soil caused by lead smelters hundreds of years ago.

However Carl Sargeant, the Minister for Natural Resources, assured a group of residents affected by contaminated land that ‘under no circumstances’ would the cost of remediation fall to them.

Following a visit last Friday to the home of Miss Julie Hinchcliff, whose home is one of the 18 in the area included in the remediation programme, the Minister said that Welsh Government has agreed in principle to contribute to the council’s costs so that the issue is resolved without leaving residents out of pocket.

The Minister said: “These costs would ordinarily fall at the door of the polluter or, failing that, the current land owner but given the circumstances we are keen for this to be resolved for the good of all parties concerned and have approached Wrexham County Borough Council offering to contribute to the costs in the interests of the residents.

“The Welsh Government had explored whether this case was comparable to Blanefield in Scotland, where the UK Government made a contribution to the remediation costs. We now agree that this case is sufficiently different to Blanefield and we have, in this instance, taken the exceptional decision to contribute to these costs.

“I am aware of the strength of feeling in the community on this matter, not least having spoken to Julie, and feel it’s important to put on record today that under no circumstances will the bill for the contamination at Coedpoeth and Brymbo fall to these home owners.”

The news has been welcomed by local campaigners who have said a ‘great burden’ has been lifted off their shoulders.

Speaking on behalf of Lead Astray, the campaign set up by the affected residents, Julie Hinchliffe said:

“We are grateful to the Minister for taking the time to come and visit us at lunchtime, see for himself the situation with the remediation project, and of course, tell us the good news that the Welsh Government will be paying our contributions and assisting the Council to advance the project. This has been a difficult period for the residents and a great burden has been lifted from our shoulders with this announcement.

“In addition to thanking the Minister, we would like to thank our local AM, Ken Skates, for all his work behind the scenes, and our regional AMs for taking up our case and engaging with the Minister’s office. We would like to thank the people of Blanefield for their support and for inspiring us to believe that this day would come. And of course, we would like to thank the members of our local community who have really got behind Lead Astray, and who will of course be as relieved and delighted as we are at today’s very welcome announcement.”



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