Fairview homes scheme halted

Exclusive by Michael Gordon

Fairview New Homes was ordered last week to stop work on its development of 1,300 new homes on a heavily contaminated ex-defence site at Enfield Lock, north London.

Fairview had started work on an area of land on the Ministry of defence's former Royal Small Arms site without planning consent from the council.

London Borough of Enfield's director of environmental services John Pryor, said: "The council is urgently considering what it will do in relation to the work that was carried out without consent ." The housebuilder's original remediation strategy was first rejected in December 1996, and accepted in July 1997 leading to a council rift.

Councillor Chris Bond faced disciplinary action after abstaining from the vote on the environment committee's motion, claiming that the council sought advice on planning law and not environmental law, which could raise questions about liability if there is an accident on site (CJ 13 August 97).

A spokesman for Fairview New Homes, said: "Unfortunately, some preliminary work was undertaken without the relevant documented approval. However, as a result of further queries on this matter, this work was immediately stopped."

He said the details of the decontamination strategy "in its entirety" was approved by the local authority on 31 July 1997 but that it was "subject to detailed proposals being submitted on a phase-by-phase basis". The contractor said all work so far has been approved by the council and supervised by environmental consultants.

In June 1998, Enfield Lock Action Group Association submitted a 28-page report showing what they claim are "inadequacies of Fairview's case for dealing with the toxins on site."

A major concern was that the proposal did not demonstrate that risk would be reduced to an acceptable level. A radiation expert from the Environmental Agency is preparing a brief for consultants to carry out 'reassurance' testing.