PATH HEAD UPDATE: FIONA QUESTIONS SAFETY OF SITE (Fiona Hall MEP)

Fiona Hall MEP <info@fionahall.org.uk>

PATH HEAD UPDATE: FIONA QUESTIONS SAFETY OF SITE

January 21, 2007 12:00 AM

Fiona at the Path Head site

Following a meeting with Commission officials this morning about the Path Head site in Gateshead, Fiona Hall has expressed concern that serious questions remain about the safety of the site.

Local residents submitted a petition to the Petitions Committee of the European Parliament in November 2005 and have twice travelled to Brussels to present evidence to the Committee.

Fiona said:

"It was clear from this morning's meeting that a number of issues remain outstanding.

"No strategic environmental impact assessment has been carried out to establish the cumulative effect of an additional landfill site on top of all the other sites within 2km of Path Head. The Path Head environmental impact assessment took place in 2002 before the strategic element became a legal requirement and that puts a huge question mark over the soundness of the assessment.

"Secondly, the Landfill Directive says that landfill sites should not be too close to residential homes, yet some properties share a boundary wall with the Path Head site and are within 180 metres of the actual dumping point.

"Thirdly, there is a complete lack of information about what is going to happen to the standing water at the base of the site. At one time Gateshead Council said implausibly that this was rainwater. Now the Council has told the Commission that the water is there to keep the clay liner in good condition. But no information at all has been given on how that water will be removed before waste dumping begins or how we can be sure that there will be no seepage of water into or out of the site at that point.

Fiona Hall said that the Commission would be writing to the Petitions Committee of the Parliament following the meeting. It is expected that Path Head will be discussed in a meeting of the Petitions Committee on 27th March.