MS calls for UK Government funding to tackle Wales’ historic toxic waste sites
Mark Mansfield
A Senedd Member has called for UK Government funding to help clean up historic chemical waste sites in Wales ahead of the broadcast of a Michael Sheen documentary examining the legacy of toxic dumping.
Elwyn Vaughan, Plaid Cymru MS for Gwynedd Maldwyn, made the call after seeing the second episode of the BBC series Buried, which focuses on the Llwyneinion Acid Tar Lagoon at Ruabon, near Wrexham.
The programme, which will be broadcast on Monday (August 24) examines the legacy of PCBs and other pollutants dumped in communities across Wales.
Mr Vaughan said: “It is becoming increasingly clear that these contaminated sites cannot simply be left for future generations to deal with. They need to be properly investigated, made safe and, where necessary, cleared.
“The scale and cost of that work is simply too great to expect Wrexham Council, or potentially the Welsh Government alone, to shoulder.”
Mr Vaughan pointed to UK Government support for coal-tip safety in Wales as an example of Westminster providing funding to deal with the country’s historic industrial legacy.
Industrial legacies
He said: “The UK Government has recognised that historic industrial legacies can require substantial national funding, including through its support for coal-tip safety in Wales.
“We now need the same recognition for communities living with the legacy of historic chemical and industrial pollution.
“That is where the pressure needs to be placed: securing UK Government support, alongside Welsh Government action, to properly remediate sites such as Llwyneinion.
“That is the campaign we will be fighting: standing up for our communities, our health and our environment, and making sure this legacy is not simply passed on to another generation.”
The intervention comes amid renewed pressure over what should happen to Llwyneinion, where historic reports indicate an estimated 1,100 barrels of chemical waste were dumped by Monsanto, which operated at nearby Acrefair, and other chemical manufacturers.
Wrexham Council has said the site is no longer considered dangerous enough to require a multi-million-pound clean-up.
‘One last chance’
Ponciau councillor Paul Pemberton, who has campaigned over the site for more than two decades and appears in Buried, has disputed the council’s position.
He said: “The only reason it is no longer considered a danger is because they put a fence up around it. People can still get in and with the weather changing and the site not being lined – there is always the prospect these toxic chemicals get into the water table or the food chain.”
Cllr Pemberton said previous estimates had put the cost of dealing with the site at around £45m and argued Wrexham Council could not afford to undertake such a project itself.
He said: “I’ve been on Wrexham Council for years and we know that if the authority was made to clean up the site we would be bankrupt – simple as that.”
Cllr Pemberton said the attention generated by Sheen’s documentary could provide fresh momentum to a campaign which has stretched over decades.
He said: “This programme’s given it a little bit of momentum again and I think if we ever want to get anything done about it, now is the time.
“This is our one last chance to sort it out.”
Responsibility
Wales Environment Link has also called on the UK Government to provide funding for work at historic toxic waste sites while pursuing chemical companies for compensation.
The environmental network argues that because the dumping took place before devolution, responsibility for funding any clean-up should not simply be passed to the Welsh Government.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has previously declined to respond to campaigners’ calls for the UK Government to fund clean-up operations at sites such as Llwyneinion.
The first episode of Buried set out how Mr Sheen became involved in investigating the legacy of chemical dumping across Wales.
Episode two, focusing on Llwyneinion, is already available on BBC iPlayer and will be broadcast on BBC One Wales and BBC Two across the UK on Monday, August 24.
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Wrexham, Caerphilly, Llantrisant, and any other PCB contaminated sites should be cleaned up without hesitation but we can’t do it without Westminster funding.
Which goes to show how performative rather than meaningful devolution only entrenches a stagnant culture of learned helplessness.