Notable case, Corby, England (Northamptonshire), United Kingdom

Corby (steelworks reclamation)

Here the harm came not from the factory but from its clean-up. Between 1985 and 1997 Corby council dismantled the steelworks and moved its toxic waste; a court later accepted the link with birth defects.

Status: Remediated
Area: 280 ha on land¹
Activity: until 1981
People affected: 19 (2010)²
Media: soil, air
Kind of site: steel

Area. Area of the former steelworks (680 acres).
People affected. Families covered by the 2010 settlement.

Contaminants

Metals

Metalloids

Mixtures and waste

Mixed waste

Status

Remediated

Reclamation of the site ended in 1999. In 2009 the High Court found the council liable for the way it had been carried out; in 2010 a confidential settlement was reached with 19 families.

Story

The Corby steelworks operated from the 1930s to 1981 on 280 hectares. From 1984 to 1999 Corby Borough Council reclaimed the site for reuse; the toxic waste was moved mainly between 1985 and 1997.

Between 1989 and 1998 the rate of children born in Corby with birth defects was 2.5 times that of surrounding areas. Eighteen families sued. On 29 July 2009 Mr Justice Akenhead found the council liable in negligence, public nuisance and breach of statutory duty, noting the presence of zinc, arsenic, boron and nickel capable of causing those defects.

The case is described as the first in the world to establish a link between airborne toxic waste and birth defects, and it shaped British practice in reclaiming brownfield land.

Timeline

1981The steelworks close.
1984The council begins reclaiming the site.
1999Reclamation work ends.
200929 July: the High Court finds the council liable.
201016 April: settlement with the families.

Health

Birth defects among children born in Corby in 1989–1998: a rate 2.5 times that of surrounding areas (figure cited in the judgment, as reported by Wikipedia).

Remediation

1984site reclamationReclamation of the steelworks site (1984–1999), carried out in a way the court found negligent.

From the literature

Species that acted on one of this site's contaminants in at least one study. The list is automatic and takes no account of this site's soil, concentrations or climate.