Toxins 27 times safe levels found in housing estate

TOXIC solvents almost 27 times beyond international safety levels have been found at a Scottish housing estate built on the site of a former munitions factory, it has been claimed.

Tests at the Motherwell estate - which was built on the site of a factory that handled toxic metals, hazardous chemicals and radioactive materials in the 1940s - found "exceptionally high levels" of solvents.

Many of the residents who live in the Tiber Avenue and Forum Place area of the Watling Street estate have over the past two years reported a range of health complaints, including stomach problems, nausea and muscular pain, which they say began only after they moved there.

North Lanarkshire Council has claimed that repeated testing of the land on which the estate was built has not revealed any significant risk to the health of residents.

But Des Collins, the solicitor who represents residents who claim to have been affected, yesterday said indoor testing of 25 homes had "confirmed the presence of exceptionally high levels" of the toxic solvents, including trichloroethylene (TCE) and tetrachloroethylene (PCE).

The independent tests, he said, showed levels of TCE between 3.52 times and 26.87 times higher than accepted levels when compared with World Health Organisation (WHO) indoor air quality standards.

In addition, significant levels of PCE were detected in one home, while other types of solvents were found, often well over WHO standards, in 14 of the remaining houses.

The results showed the levels of toxic materials found through indoor testing were "far worse than originally thought", he said.

Indoor air testing has not been used by the local authority as it can be prone to giving false results, because the presence of everyday household chemicals can distort readings.

However, Monridge Environmental LLC, the company brought in by Mr Collins to carry out the tests, was said to believe the levels of these pollutants could not be attributed to the use of household products.

Des Collins, senior partner at Collins Solicitors, said: "TCE is a well-known and accepted carcinogen. The levels in four houses are hugely excessive and the findings of this latest report have potentially far-reaching and damaging consequences. Further, the evidence of other solvents being detected, very often at dangerous levels gives real cause for concern.

"We have today written to North Lanarkshire Council asking for an urgent meeting in order that immediate steps might be taken."

The council has been accused of ignoring 1995 recommendations for a remediation programme to clean contaminated waste from the site before giving the green light to build more than 100 houses on it.The former facility on the site had handled and processed toxic metals and chemicals as well as potentially radioactive waste.

A spokesperson for North Lanarkshire Council accused Mr Collins of upsetting residents. "Once again we are disappointed that Collins Solicitors have chosen to cause distress to residents by making broad claims through the media, as opposed to sharing the results and methodology used for the tests they claim to have carried out.

"North Lanarkshire Council has sought to publish and share all of its results throughout what has been an exhaustive testing regime. We are awaiting a finalised report from our independent contractor. However, we have found no evidence to date that suggests a significant risk to health from contamination."