ST HELENS Council has pledged to clean up polluted land that could be a risk to health or cause damage to the environment.

The council, together with Merseyside Environmental Service and Knowsley and Sefton councils, are to prepare a comprehensive strategy to make any problem sites safe.

An officer has been appointed to co-ordinate and develop the plan specifically for St Helens.

The council's chief environmental health officer, Steve Massey, said: "The St Helens Health Plan identified pollution issues as a cause for concern to many residents, including those concerns related to possible land pollution. With our industrial past, it is thought that St Helens will benefit considerably from new clean-up laws, although there will be considerable work needed to identify and suggest practical ways in which such land can be made safe."

Further information on contaminated land or other environmental health issues can be obtained from the council Environmental Health section, tel. (01744) 456338/456353, or by visiting the section on the third floor of Wesley House, Corporation Street, St Helens.