Kerrier councillors have given their support to a proposal by the Ministry of Defence to clean up two more of the dumpsites at the former chemical defence establishment at Nancekuke.
The council supported the remediation of the first of RAF Portreath's five dumps sites - dump C - in December 2004.
The MOD now wants permission to investigate dumps A and B, which are located in the north-east quadrant of the air station.
Dump A is a disused quarry of about 2,000 square metres, and between 10-15m deep. It is believed it contains building materials, and technical and domestic waste.
Dump B is valley in-fill of about 7,200 square metres, between 4-5m deep.
In its application, the MOD said: "The principal purposes of the proposals are to prevent possible pollution from the dumps, to improve the environmental quality of RAF Portreath, and to prevent potential future hazards to the environment and human health due to the presence of material within the dumps."
Under the proposals, the dumps would be examined using a system designed to prevent the release of chemicals or dust into the atmosphere.
Any hazardous waste would be transferred to Porton Down for disposal.
In his report to members of Kerrier Council's planning committee, head of service Jon Pender said he had no objections to the proposal, "subject to its implementation in accordance with the details in the supporting environmental statement".
He said: "The remediation of this and other dumps clearly must be carried out. The only question before you is whether the proposed way of doing so to Dumps A and B are acceptable.
"There is no absolute knowledge of the materials to be excavated from there, but the element of uncertainty is considered to be small, and the scheme includes measures to address a range of eventualities."
Tommy Bray said he was against the clean up.
He said: "It's been left for 60 years, and suddenly we're going to dig it up. We don't know what we're going to find. Let's let sleeping dogs lie."
Councillors voted to support the proposal, which will now go before the county council's planning committee for a final decision.
E-mail: julianr@c-dm.co.uk
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
