Politicians put differences aside to demand toxic dump testing

Alec Doyle, Local Democracy Reporter

Politicians across a county, from representatives in the Senedd and Westminster to community councils, have co-signed a letter to key agencies demanding no more delays to testing around historic chemical waste sites.

The group of 57 elected members has come together to put pressure on key agencies including Natural Resources Wales, Wrexham Council, Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, Dŵr Cymru, Public Health Wales, the Department of Rural Resilience and Sustainability and the Department of Health and Social Care Services to put in place testing programmes on and near contaminated sites.

They want blood testing programmes for people living near contaminated sites in Wrexham and water and soil testing to identify the presence of ‘forever chemicals’ like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) – which Ruabon-based Monsanto and other industrial giants disposed of in quarries, brickworks, fields and other sites across the county borough.

The letter initially calls for action around Llwyneinion Acid Tar Lagoon in Rhos – where many chemicals were dumped through the 60s and 70s – and New Road in Trevor, both of which are documented dump sites.

The activity, which has been known about locally for decades, was recently brought to national attention thanks to the BBC documentary Buried.

The programme saw Welsh actor Michael Sheen and environmental journalists Dan Ashby and Lucy Taylor gather experts to investigate evidence of historic dumping across Wrexham and South Wales recorded by the late  whistleblower Douglas Gowan.

That led to the creation of the Monsanto Contamination Action Group by residents living near suspected dump sites to campaign for them to be tested and cleaned-up.

Now Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr MP Steve Witherden has led elected representatives in a call for action across south and west Wrexham – where dumping is believed to have been concentrated.

Alongside Mr Witherden the letter has been signed by every member of both Cefn Community Council and Rhos Community Council, all but one member of Esclusham Community Council plus Independent Cllrs Dave Metcalfe, Darrell Wright and non-aligned Cllr Keith Sinclair of Llangollen Rural Community Council.

Eight Wrexham County Borough councillors from the Independent and Labour groups – including Leader Clr Mark Pritchard and long-time Llwyneinion campaigner Cllr Paul Pemberton – have also signed the letter along with Welsh Labour Leader and Senedd Member Ken Skates, MPs Becky Gittins, Andrew Ranger and Mr Witherden, Lord Barry Jones, Lord John Hendy and Baroness Christine Blower.

The signatories are demanding the testing of blood, soil, and water for various toxic and carcinogenic contaminants, including PCBs at both known and suspected sites and the remediation of those sites to make them safe.

According to MR Witherden the urgent ask is for NRW to expand its current testing of the Llywneinion Acid Tar Lagoon (Rhosllanerchrugog) and New Road (Trevor) sites to all untested sites identified across Cefn Community, Llangollen Rural Ward and Llywneinion.

“This collective effort shows the determination of our communities to be heard.” he said.

“We are now speaking with one voice and using it to demand testing. While the power to act on these demands is spread across a number of organisations, all are ultimately accountable to the Welsh Government.

“It can and must coordinate a response.

“For years this issue, like many others, has been ignored because acknowledgment should necessitate action. The story is always the same: nothing to see here.

“It is morally wrong to look away just because you might not like what you see. I call on all the addressed: please, at the very least, help us to see the full picture.”

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