Rushcliffe Borough Council has confirmed that any ‘potential risks to human health’ at the site of the Tollerton / Gamston proposed 4,000-home development will be ‘identified and addressed’ before any building work goes ahead.
A 2008 land survey found that the area between Tollerton and Gamston in Nottinghamshire was contaminated with radioactive material due to the site’s use for the discarding and burning of more than 1,000 planes after the Second World War.
At a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, January 13, Labour opposition leader Jen Walker asked: “What assurances can the portfolio holder for planning and housing provide that the local planning authority, Rushcliffe Council, will seek to ensure the site is investigated for contamination and any necessary remediation is carried out?”
Cabinet member for planning and housing Roger Upton replied: “The matter will be considered during the planning application process, in consultation with technical consultees such as Environmental Health.
“Planning officers will consider the wording of, and the need for, any planning conditions relating to mitigating any potential contamination at that point. Planning conditions relating to potential contamination require any assessment and management of potential contamination to be undertaken in accordance with Environment Agency guidance.
“And technical consultees will ensure that the information submitted to discharge the planning conditions on contamination is sufficiently robust to identify and address potential risks to human health and to the environment.”
In April last year, campaigners pointed out that a 2008 land survey had detected the highly radioactive metal radium-226 in the ground at Tollerton Park – a retirement village close to Nottingham City Airport, which now forms part of the proposed new site.
The radium turned out to be from the dials and gauges in the cockpits of the planes that had been discarded there.
Radium-226, which glows in the dark, was used on the equipment to make sure pilots could keep track of their cabin pressure and speed even while it was dark.
But after its uses throughout the first half of the 20th century, it was discovered to be cancerous and pose other serious health risks.
On November 7, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) government body sent Rushcliffe Borough Council a letter, after being asked to look into the information about the site being potentially contaminated.
The letter said that their belief, based on current information, was that the results of the 2008 survey – that levels of contamination detected were not considered sufficient to pose a signifcant radiation hazard to residents – still applied.
But it added that, in the 17 years since, ground works in the area and the addition of mobile homes may have moved the original material or exposed additional contamination, and said that they believed there was “suitable justification” for another radiation survey to be undertaken to ensure that the risk to health remains low.
Following up her original question, Councillor Walker asked Councillor Upton whether another survey had been scheduled yet and, if not, why.
Councillor Upton said: “I am not aware that that survey work has taken place yet. But I will come back to you.”