Willenhall residents vow to take legal action over former gas works

Almost 90 homes on the site of a former gas works near Kemble Close, Oakridge Drive and Brookthorpe Drive in Willenhall were declared as affected following a three-year investigation.

Nobody as yet has accepted responsibility.

Walsall Council has served a remediation notice on Jim 2 Limited - the firm the authority claims is liable for the contamination - but the company has now lodged an appeal with the Planning Inspectorate.

The council said the firm had bought, demolished, cleared and prepared the former gas works site for residential housing and in doing so had 'caused or knowingly permitted the contamination on the site'.

It is anticipated the clean-up could cost as much as £7 million but the authority said the appeal process may take some considerable time.

Residents who have been fighting to get the site cleaned up for years say they have had enough and are taking matters into their own hands.

Brenda Fullwood, vice-chairwoman of Stonegate Trent Park Action Group, said residents formed the campaign group around five years ago but were now at the end of their tether.

She said the group had approached a 'no win, no fee' solicitors firm and around 20 members would be launching joint legal action against the parties deemed responsible in a bid to see the site cleaned up.

The 60-year-old grandmother-of-three, who has lived in Kemble Close since 1982, said: "We are all so angry. We want someone to be held accountable. It's frustrating that it has still not been resolved after this long.

"We are now taking legal action. It is in the hands of the solicitors. The priority is to get it cleaned up."

She also blames the contamination for some residents of the estate, including herself, being diagnosed with cancer in recent years.

Heavy metals, tars and a gas-manufacturing by-product known as Blue Billy were found in the soil at the former gasworks site.

It shut down in the 1960s and the homes were built shortly after. It was declared as contaminated land in 2012.

Keith Stone, Walsall Council's assistant director for neighbourhood services, said: "The council is involved in a very complicated legal process in order to try and secure a solution for the residents affected by the contamination at the Stonegate Estate.

"I am acutely aware of the anxiety and frustration that such a lengthy legal process can cause but it is essential that, the council as the regulator for the purposes of Part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 ensures that it complies with the relevant legislation and this is a very time consuming process."

The appeal hearing date is yet to be confirmed.

Bosses at Jim 2 Limited were unavailable to comment.