‘Criminal’ cash deficiency leaves nine in 10 high -risk toxic sites

A BBC investigation found that thousands of sites contaminated from toxic chemicals have been tested anytime by the council.

Nine out of 10 “high-risk” areas have been tested, which has not been tested by councils responding to BBC independence of information requests, and scientists fear that they may pose health risk.

Sites include substances such as lead or arsenic.

BBC shared data unit was found to be 13,093 potentially found Toxic site That councils have identified as high risk, inspection of only 1,465.

The UK government has said that local unique officials have a statutory duty to inspect potentially contaminated sites, but the councils claim that they do not have money to do so.

Research comes after release New Netflix Drama Toxic Town Which tells the story of families since one who fights for justice Britain’s biggest environmental scams,

The BBC findings raise new questions about what exactly left under our feet from the UK’s heavy industrial past.

A prominent expert on the impact of pollution on human health, Dr. Ian Madve said, “What we do not do in this country makes a complete economic evaluation at the cost of things including health and it seems almost criminal.”

“I am also not sure that we have achieved the talk of scratching the surface.”

The contaminated land is a site that may have been polluted by its previous use – it can be a factory, power station, a railway line, landfill site, petrol station or dry cleaner.

If you live in property manufactured after 2000, any contamination issues should be covered by updated planning laws.

But if you live in property manufactured before 2000, the rules are less clear.

Environmental protection act All possible contaminated sites require councils to list, and inspect high -risk people to ensure that people and property are not at risk.

But after contacting all 122 unique officials in Wales, Scotland and England about their contaminated land, 73 responded to the BBC’s shared data unit Freedom of Information Request, revealed that 430,000 potential sites were identified in the early 2000s.

Among them, 13,093 was considered potentially high risk, which experts should then be subject to physical testing. Nevertheless, more than 11,000 of them are uncontrolled till date.

Half of the 22 councils of Wales told the BBC that they could not give us figures or not – but those who did, identified 698 high -risk sites, of which 586 have not been inspected.

Where Robin Morris has a house for 1,300 abandoned metal mines of more than 400 Wales and its three rivers, Yastavith, Ridol and Cleach are the most polluted in Britain.

In the Northern Ceredigian, the CWMYSTWYTH mines returned to the bronze era and left in 1950, but the zinc, cadmium and high levels of lead deteriorated and scattered the landscape and pollute the Ystwyth River below.

Many Cwmystwyth locals, such as Robin, are installed in filtration systems if they receive their water from the hills where there were old mines.

“We installed an advance filtration system and assured that it would take everything at all,” he said.

The BBC took an earthen sample from Robin’s garden on the banks of Yastwith and revealed a very high reading of the lead above the recommended safe level for gardening.

“This causes ringing alarm bell,” Robin BBC Wells’s investigation told,

“In the light of data from your soil sample, we should have stopped growing vegetables long ago.”

This is just a sample, but other things that have occurred in the past, now more understanding.

Robin said, “We had ducks and chickens, a couple of ducks went on lame and we consulted the vet, thought that it was due to major contamination.”

The Ceredigian Council said that it was contacting the environment bodies of Wales with National Resources Wales to continuously assess the health effect from the region’s mining heritage.

Dr. Madway says that there was there “No safe levels” Lead and BBC told that it can affect kidney and heart disease in adults along with the development of children.

Environmental toxicist at Imperial College London said, “There is nothing more than the lead.”

“This is a threat that has not gone away and still has a clear and current danger to the population.

“This is one of the few chemical institutions for which we can calculate the global burden of the disease – due to the release of lead in our environment, between half million under death just one million per year.

“When you talk about the cost of sure that the land is safe … then it is money.

“Cost of potential health effects, especially if they contribute to chronic diseases that live up to 10 or 20 years, or the cost of remediating land, when you find that it is a high-level, the profits made at the other end of that cycle are dwarf. It seems almost criminal.

“Health cost is rarely considered at all.”

When Manon Chisel was a child, he suddenly stopped talking – doctors advised their family that she was showing a lot of autistic symptoms.

“I have memories of very closely monitoring in Mithrin (nursery) … I was always an adult with me,” now 20 Manon said.

“I couldn’t speak … they had to use a traffic light system, and yes or not cards to help me to redirect and communicate me.”

But later a blood test found high level of lead in Manon’s blood.

She was not autistic, she was poisoned.

His father, Hue Chiselle, believed that Manon was poisoned at his house in Cardiff, near an old industrial place.

“She used to eat the earth (as a child) in the garden,” he said.

“There were no banks of the railway from where we lived at that time, so it is really difficult to draw any other conclusions, because once she stops eating, it became better.”

But it’s not just about lead – a Official report It suggests that the largest health risks presented the risks were also contaminated by chemicals such as arsenic, nickel, chromium and polycyclic aeromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) found in soil or water.

Preachers want a new law to force the councils to keep a public register of all possible contaminated sites.

It is headed by one of the parents Seven -year -old boy who died of poisonous gas After the River of Tems in 2014, his house flooded, and believes that smoke came from a landfill nearby.

Zen’s law – Zen Gabangbola – also asks for more funds for councils to identify and test potential sites.

“You have to know that it exists before you can protect yourself,” said Zen’s Dad Cay Gabangbola, which was made paralyzed after gas poisoning.

“People will remain insecure until we have Zen’s law.”

When strict rules to deal with potentially contaminated land became a law 25 years ago, the minister who pushed him through Wanted.

Now John Selvin Gumar feels that the UK government’s funding cuts mean very little inspection.

Lord Debon said, “There is no way in which local authorities can work without resources without this work.”

“The gradual governments have undergone an under-gesture for the work we need to do.”

Many councils have told the BBC that funding is why they stopped examining the possible contaminated land.

Phil Hartley was one of the hundreds of officers across the UK who investigated the potential sites and former council of Newcastle contamination officer.

He said that by removing the grant of the central government, the check had “collapse”.

“Since the money dried up very much, very few councils constantly go out in search of contaminated land sites as the council does not want to take the risk of finding them,” said Mr. Hartley.

“It is likely that some people are threatening health, which is not great.”

The UK government said that local authorities had a statutory duty to inspect potentially contaminated sites, requiring reconsideration and need to maintain a public register of reconsideration land.

A spokesman for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said, “Any risk for public health from contaminated land is a serious matter.”

He asked the environment agency to produce a new status of data reports to “measure future policies” to “measure future policies against contaminated land” to provide a new status of contaminated land reports.

The bodies representing councils in both Wales and England said that lack of cash means they cannot fulfill their duties.

The Welsh Local Government Association said that while 22 councils of Wales had taken their responsibility to investigate the sites “seriously”, progress “dedicated money and expert were forced by lack of resources and were rapidly forced by lack of resources”.

The local government association of England said: “Without enough money, the councils will continue to struggle to provide important services – with disastrous consequences for those who trust them.”

You can see the toxic secret of Britain BBC iPlayer And BBC Forest on Thursday 13 March at 20:30 GMT