Council Files Steel Work's Toxin Appeal

Toxins alleged to have been produced in an industrial process are to be the subject of fresh legal action.

Corby Borough Council (CBC) has filed an application for permission to appeal against a judgement which ruled that birth defects affecting 16 to 18 children may have been caused by toxins released into the atmosphere during reclamation works on a former British Steel site.

The decision to appeal was reached at a special council meeting on 18 August.

The appeal was delivered in writing to the trial judge next day and he will decide whether to grant permission by 11 September.

If the trial judge does not give permission, Corby Borough Council has the option to submit a written application for permission to appeal directly to the Court of Appeal by the end of September.

Commenting on the decision to appeal, Paul Whittell partner at law firm Berrymans Lace Mawer, which is advising CBC, said: "We think Corby Borough Council's decision to appeal is a good one.

"We believe that the judgment has a number of flaws which will be subject to appeal, the most serious being forseeability – the council cannot be held responsible unless it had foresight that there could be injury to birth mothers.

"The wastes at the centre of this claim came from a single use site, an iron and steelmaking plant, which had been in operation since the 1930s.

"These iron and steel slags have traditionally been recycled in other industries, including house building, road building, and even agriculture, as fertiliser. They are still used in this way today.

"Never before have these wastes been described as hazardous to unborn children. And, at the time the work was carried out, there was no published research that would have given Corby Borough Council this foresight."

(CD/BMcC)