A council leader says he will support a public inquiry into contaminated land in a town, following a report published last week that revealed it could pose a risk to human health.
The charity Earthwatch Europe says trained citizen scientists have found potentially harmful levels of metal or metalloid at 52 freshwater sites across Corby.
Children in Corby have been born with birth defects, believed to have been caused when steelworks were demolished in the 1980s.
As first reported in the NN Journal, Martin Griffiths, Reform UK leader of North Northamptonshire Council said: “We have nothing to hide.”
He added: “We would welcome a genuinely independent examination of the historic events and the questions that remain unanswered, and we would cooperate fully with any inquiry established by the government.”
Griffiths challenged the Labour MP for Corby and East Northamptonshire, Lee Barron, to take his longstanding calls for a public inquiry directly to the Labour government.
In response, Barron said it was “baffling” the council would ask for a public inquiry.
He said the authority needed to immediately publish a plan to investigate and clean up any contaminated land.
Barron said: “It is important that North Northamptonshire Council investigates the [Earthwatch] report.
“People deserve answers and it is the role of the council to provide them.”
