Allotments shut over 'forever chemicals' in soil

Two allotments near a former industrial site are being formally closed as part of an investigation into so-called "forever chemicals".

People who hold plots at the Occupation Road and Sandringham Avenue sites in Thornton Cleveleys, near to the former ICI plant, have been told to collect their belongings and not consume any produce they may have grown.

Wyre Council said it had taken the decison on advice from the Environment Agency due to levels of Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA) found in the soil.

Council leader Michael Vincent said residents had already been told not to grow fruit and vegetables at the allotments but this was the "formal step of closing them" down.

Wyre Council said the amount of PFOA found in shallow soil samples and the produce grown on site meant there was a significant risk to health and that the risk was higher for allotment tenants as they were likely to eat more of their own produce.

The Occupation Road site has been mostly empty for some time, but now the site has been identified as "contaminated land" Vincent said there needed to be a clean-up there.

He said: "There will be a period now where that land is just sort of left untouched, we certainly wouldn't be building on it or anything like that."

The cost of that clean-up would be dependent on who was responsible for the contamination, and as yet there are no findings on that.

On the Sandringham Avenue site, action has been taken on a "precautionary basis until scientific interpretation of shallow soil sampling results is received", the council said.

Residents who live within the 0.6 mile (1km) affected zone are still being advised not to eat any fruit or vegetables grown in their gardens, or consume eggs if they keep ducks or chickens.

Vincent said: "We already told residents that had the allotments there that they should stop growing fruit and vegetables, but we hadn't formally closed them.

"We're now going to take the formal step of closing them."

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