Michael Sheen BBC doc probes UK toxic waste sites
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- Rev Paul Cawthorne, priest in charge of churches in the Hadnall area and a long-time environmental campaigner, served as a key contributor to the BBC documentary Buried with Michael Sheen
- Michael Sheen fronts the two-part BBC series Buried, airing on BBC Two, BBC One Wales and BBC iPlayer from Monday 17 August
- A Freedom of Information request revealed that Monsanto legally dumped waste at the former Stoney Hill landfill in Telford between 1985-1988, when the site was managed by Shropshire County Council
- Cawthorne's investigation identified multiple historically documented sites including Stoney Hill (Telford), Sutton Walls (Herefordshire), Cefn Mawr (north Wales) and sites across south Wales valleys
- Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were found at "dangerously elevated levels" in 9 out of 10 sites discussed in the series, with some results "literally off the scale" according to Cawthorne
- Monsanto produced chemicals at factories in Newport (south Wales) and Ruabon (near Chirk) before disposal legislation began to tighten in 1974
- Telford and Wrekin Council, which took over site management in 1998, told the LDRS its website shows no evidence of toxic materials were tipped and that a 2008 Environment Agency review found the site "is not considered a harm to the local environment"
Why it matters: Cawthorne's 20-year campaign and Telford and Wrekin Council now stand on opposite sides of an established record: the council cites a 2008 Environment Agency review that found "no harm to local environment," while Cawthorne reports PCB readings "literally off the scale" at 9 of 10 sites—creating a contested evidence base the council will have to address as Cawthorne renews his call for a full statutory investigation.
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