On 18th December the Court of Session in Edinburgh heard that tests ordered by North Lanarkshire Council relating to a residential estate in Motherwell revealed very high levels of potentially harmful chemicals.

Earlier this year, in response to a series of tests carried out by experts working on behalf of Collins Solicitors, the council instructed a firm to carry out its own tests and said it would publish the results in due course. However the Council has not published the results to date.

So Collins Solicitors put in a Freedom of Information request to the council. They gave the firm the results for tests carried out on land underneath the house at 31 Empire Way, however the results remained confidential.

Des Collins, Senior Partner of Collins Solicitors comments:

“It seems incredible that tests carried out by a public body relating to a residential site which houses hundreds of people can remain secret. However, having put in a Freedom of Information request to the council and having been given the results for tests carried out on the land underneath the house at 31 Empire Way – and following the hearing in court on 18th December – the results of the Council’s tests show toxic readings 57 times higher than normally accepted standards underneath the property. By any standards that is unacceptable and needs resolving.”

Collins Solicitors has maintained for over three years that the properties were built on land that was not fully remediated following a long history of light and heavy industrial use.

For further details please read the Glasgow Evening News piece published on 19th December, 2013; here

For further details of the firm’s involvement in Motherwell please also see here