Investigation over contaminated water fears on former golf club

Fears that contaminated water has escaped into streams from the site of a proposed housing development has prompted an investigation by environmental body Natural Resources Wales.

Work to prepare Caerphilly’s Virginia Park Golf Club for housing got underway in March.

The area, a former landfill site, is currently being decontaminated and flattened, with drainage work also taking place.

However, there have been reports of discoloured water being discharged into the nearby Porset Brook and Nant Yr Aber streams.

Natural Resources Wales has confirmed that it is investigating.

Jon Goldsworthy, Operations Manager from Natural Resources Wales said: “Our officers attended Virginia Park on April 15 in response to concerns about contaminated water being discharged from the site.

“The operator was informed that an environmental permit is required to discharge water, and as an interim measure, they were instructed that water must be tankered away and taken to a permitted facility for disposal.

“Our investigations into circumstances of the incident remain ongoing. If we find evidence of environmental damage we will take the appropriate enforcement action. If anyone sees any further signs of pollution in the area they should report it to our incident hotline on 03000 65 3000.”

Local councillors have demanded that NRW treat the matter with urgency.

Morgan Jones ward councillor Phil Bevan said: “NRW were contacted as long ago as April 12 about water from the site being discharged into the Porset Brook and Nant Yr Aber.

“It is urgent that this water is tested for contaminants as reports highlighted various pollutants such as arsenic and mercury dumped when the site was used for landfill decades ago, when controls were far less strict than today.”

Outline planning permission for the controversial development was provisionally granted in May 2019 and was finally granted in December 2019.

By December last year however, developer Bellway Homes withdrew their application because they could not agree terms with the landowner.

What they withdrew was actually a “reserved matters” application – this focuses on the finer details of the plans. The overall outline planning application still stands and is in place until 2024.

This means the landowner can still prepare the land for any future development.

Since work began residents have taken to social media to complain of noise and dust coming from the site.

Prichard’s, the contractor which is carrying out the preparation work, denied the presence of contaminated water on the site and said: “All works on site are being undertaken in line with the approved site investigation, remediation strategy and groundwater scheme of monitoring and we continue to work closely with the relevant regulators.

“Following excavation of almost 200,000 tonnes of soil to date, our testing and sampling have not identified any groundwater contamination. We are constantly monitoring the quality of both materials excavated and the encountered water.

“In the event of any contaminated water being encountered, this would be isolated and removed off site by tankers to be disposed of at a suitably licensed facility.

“Prichard Remediation have a dedicated project liaison officer who is available to address any issues with local residents that may arise as needed. They can be reached on 07947304568 or via email VPResidents@prichardholdings.co.uk.”