TAKE a piece of land which has been declared an area of general flooding, an old land-fill site, as being contaminated by arsenic, lead and other dangerous chemicals.

It is also one with very dangerous access leading on to a road that has been narrowed and contains a railway embankment which, if disturbed, could lead to serious consequences.

Now, what have we got? - a piece of land that Ribble Valley Council has earmarked for housing and was verified by an environment inspector as being an old tip.

Also its containing contaminated material was mentioned in a report by the firm which did drilling on the site and has been in the hands of the council for nearly 12 months.

As for the railway embankment, Railtrack have said that they are not fully aware of the latest plans for this site and have criticised the council for not keeping them informed. All this is happening in the village of Billington on the land at the back of the post office.

The council is trying to push through a plan to allow houses to be built on this site on the advice of their planning officers. They are prepared to let this go through instead of getting the site tested by other drilling experts.

The council knew of the contamination nearly 12 months ago, but this was never mentioned at the last meeting with the planning officers, which I attended and it is doubtful whether some of the new members of the council are aware of this report.

They are prepared to put the health and safety of people at risk for the sake of a few houses. Why?

Ribble Valley Council will not listen to commonsense and call this controversial scheme off until a proper investigation has been done.

J SYKES (Mr), Calder Avenue, Billington.

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