Residents lambast council over toxic chemical threat

At a meeting in Baildon, BRAiD (Baildon residents Against inappropriate Development) raised concerns about the results of a recent survey carried out on behalf of the council to determine the levels of toxic chemicals on the site.

In some cases they say these were found to be many times above the levels generally considered as safe.

At the same time the withdrawal of funding by former regional development agency, Yorkshire Forward, means that the council has had to allocate £1.4m from its own budget to progress the work.

The group says this is nowhere near enough to complete the project, an original estimate for the groundworks alone was £2.5m and this did not include any costs of cleaning up the site.

Dr Steve Walker, chairman of BRAiD said: “At a time when council budgets are being trimmed this venture is putting considerable sums of money at risk, money which could be better spent elsewhere.

“Based on its own figures the funding allocated to the project is not nearly enough to see it through to completion”

A Bradford Council spokesman said: “As part of the approval of preparatory work for the Buck Lane development, the polluted areas must be made safe.

“Expert independent technical advice has been sought and the recommended course of action has been submitted to the council’s environmental health department for approval.

“As a council we are committed to ensuring the site is prepared for development to meet the demands of expanding companies and support the growth of the local economy by creating new jobs.

“We have committed £1.4m to the scheme. Further work to the site will be funded by developers and end users, as is typical with such schemes.”

Bradford councillor Chris Greaves, (Independent, Wharfedale), said: “This is a major development and I can understand why local residents didn’t want it in the first place.”