Corby metal pollution may harm people, says study — SkimNews
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- Earthwatch Europe found potentially harmful levels of metal or metalloid at 52 freshwater sites across Corby, with at least one contaminant exceeding levels where 'no adverse ecological effects are expected' at every site sampled.
- Nickel was detected in all 28 freshwater samples and cadmium in six, with elevated concentrations of cadmium and arsenic in soil largely confined to Deene Quarry and a former slag heap in Weldon.
- The Environment Agency said its own monitoring does not indicate 'widespread or significant harm' to the freshwater environment and had previously disputed an earlier Earthwatch finding about harm to aquatic life.
- Summer-to-winter sampling comparison pointed to a 'relatively constant source of pollution; likely groundwater and landfill leachate rather than urban run-off,' the charity said.
- Tracey Taylor, whose baby daughter Shelby-Anne died at four days old, has campaigned for years; in 2009, Justice Akenhead ruled in favour of 18 Corby families that Corby Borough Council was negligent in managing the waste.
- Labour MP Lee Barron urged North Northamptonshire Council — which replaced Corby council in 2021 — to publish a plan 'to make these sites safe,' saying local authorities have a duty to identify contamination causing unacceptable risks.
Why it matters: Earthwatch has now escalated its claim from harm to aquatic life to potential harm to people — a step beyond what the Environment Agency's own monitoring has confirmed. With 18 Corby families already having won a 2009 negligence ruling, the new citizen-scientist data hands campaigners fresh ammunition to demand North Northamptonshire Council publish a remediation plan.
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