£800k safety bill for ex-dump
Telford & Wrekin Council is set to spend nearly £1 million to ensure safety for people living near a former dumping ground used by international chemical giant Monsanto.
But fears Stoney Hill landfill site - close to the huge Lightmoor "urban village" - contains deadly Agent Orange are unfounded, an investigation has revealed.
But chemical, medical and "difficult" waste was buried there between 1984 and 1991, including up to 1,000 BSE "mad cow" carcasses.
Controversy over exactly what was dumped at Stoney Hill tip from Monsanto's South Wales factory has been raging for years.
Residents found waste in a quarry near Cardiff, which came from the same factory, contained toxic material including Agent Orange, a herbicide used by the Americans as a defoliant in the Vietnam War.
Monsanto denied illegally dumping any such material at Stoney Hill and said all its waste was disposed of by contractors who were told what it was.
Telford & Wrekin Council is liable for any past, present or future claims at Stoney Hill, which is officially rated a high-risk site due to polluted water leaching out of the tip and gases forming underground.
The council cabinet will on Tuesday be asked to spend £800,000 to improve management of Stoney Hill, which is 100 metres away from the 900-home Lightmoor Village.
A report says environmental health experts have finished a £72,000 probe of the site, which shut in 1992, and have concluded there is no risk to properties or residents.
It recommends cutting leachate levels by increased pumping and better gas emissions management.
