Council Pledge to Ince Estate Home Owners

Wigan Council today moved to reassure residents of Ince Central estate who have bought their council houses that the Metro is still working hard to ensure that the cost of tackling all the contaminated land will be paid for out of public funds.

Community protection chiefs described suggestions that owner occupiers might have to pay for the works themselves as a ‘worst-case scenario’, and stressed that they were moving forward with bids for funding.

Cabinet member for the environment, Cllr David Molyneux, said:

"We have been very conscious of the possible implications for owners and tenants alike. We have made it clear to owner-occupiers that we are aiming to ensure all the works are paid for from public funds. The local MP has been working hard to support the council and we think we have this issue sorted."

The council’s community protection department believes that, under the Environmental Protection Act, the council is allowed to accept responsibility for treating the contamination. This would then make it possible to access public funds for the remediation works.

Cllr Molyneux added:

"Because this involves millions of pounds of public money and can be challenged in the law courts we are taking advice from one of the country’s top legal experts. Quite simply we do not want to find the work being held up by a legal complication. This legal advice will be with us in about two to three weeks and we have already promised the residents liaison group that the key findings will be shared with residents."

Council officials are set to brief the resident's group this Thursday on decisions taken by the cabinet last week. These are:

• to progress detailed funding bids;
• to carry out a trial remediation project on a pair of council-owned houses;
• to get on with employing engineering consultants to design, and contractors to carry out, the remediation works;
• to get Wigan and Leigh Housing to manage the whole project; and
• to increase the Council’s environmental protection service to deal with the formal legal processes of declaring the contaminated land.

Note to Editors

Further information: Ashley Crumbley, Deputy Director of Community Protection, 01942 827072.