radioactive nuclides at Albright and Wilson's Gower and Rattlechain tips

Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council did not have the information requested.

Dear Sandwell Borough Council,

I am writing to make an open government request for all the
information to which I am entitled under the freedom of information act and the environmental information regulations.

In order to assist you with this request, I am outlining my query as specifically as possible.

If however this request is too wide or too unclear, I would be grateful if you could contact me as I understand that under the act, you are required to advise and assist requesters.

(i) Can you identify what type and quantity of radioactive waste was found and removed from the Gower tip site,Tividale formerly owned by Albright and Wilson and now Rhodia before or after the site license expired in 1994? The environment agency have stated in a previous FOI request "We do not know if Sandwell Council have any knowledge of the event referred to and would advise you to contact them directly for the information you require."

(ii) Can you confirm that independent tests have been conducted on this site for the alpha emitter Polonium-210 and the beta emitter Lead-210, radionuclides present in phosphate ore which are enriched by the process of elemental phosphorus production, which took place at the Oldbury site where waste containing dusts was generated, and also found in several other waste tips associated with this process in many countries?
Can you give results of these tests in Bq/g?
(iii) Given that according to the Environment Agency Sandwell council were made aware of "radioactive wastes" contained at the site, have you ever informed local residents about it?
(iv) A previous request to the council stated "The Gower Tip has been assigned an inspection priority category of
3, i.e. contaminants may be present but are unlikely to have an unacceptable impact on key targets. The site has yet to be inspected under the strategy and therefore no determination has been made in respect of its condition; it is therefore not possible to say at this stage when this site will be subject to a more detailed investigation."
Are you certain and can prove that Polonium-210 and Lead-210 are not present at this site without having carried out an investigation and given that there are people now living yards from this site in newly built homes?
(v) Concerning Rattlechain, the flawed Cremer and Warner report of 1990 only conducted a gamma emitter survey for radioactivity, therefore conveniently for the then site owners with absolutely no chance of identifying either Polonium-210 or Lead-210. At what stage, given that this site still has a site licence would you expect to carry out such a survey, given that there are also people living next to this site which still has yet to be remediated?

I understand that under the act, I should be entitled to a response within 20 working days.
I would be grateful if you could confirm that you have received this request. I look forward to hearing from you in the near future.

Yours faithfully,

Mr Carroll

Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council

Thank you for contacting Sandwell Council.

Your request has been passed to the relevant service area, who will contact you shortly.

Please quote your reference number INT1-123625791 on all future correspondence.

Regards

Corporate Contact Centre
Customer Services
Transform Sandwell

www.sandwell.gov.uk

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Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council

1 Attachment

Please find attached a letter from Sandwell Council in response to your recent contact.

This letter will advise you of the timescales for response and will provide our contact details should you need to get in touch.

If you cannot open the attachment please download the FREE adobe reader that can be found at www.adobe.com
Please do not reply to this e-mail but instead use the contact details found in the letter.

Sandwell MBC, Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council

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Dear Sandwell Borough Council,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Sandwell Borough Council's handling of my FOI request 'radioactive nuclides at Albright and Wilson's Gower and Rattlechain tips'.
I am not satisfied with the answers given by Mr Norton which are extremely brief and dodge the questions asked.
With regard to question 4 how can the council assess a site that it has not inspected in respect of radioactive contamination not having an impact on key targets- does it have to wait until a number of people start complaining about cancer clusters in this area before action is taken? I note that there is no answer to question 3 also. Perhaps someone should inform these people so that they can be aware that the council has not inspected this site and has no evidence which it can produce concerning radioactive contamination within the site.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/ra...

Yours faithfully,

Mr Carroll

Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council

Thank you for contacting Sandwell Council.

Your request has been passed to the relevant service area, who will contact you shortly.

Please quote your reference number INT1-126417688 on all future correspondence.

Regards

Corporate Contact Centre
Customer Services
Transform Sandwell

www.sandwell.gov.uk

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Nigel Parr, Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council

2 Attachments

Dear Mr Carroll,

Please find attached the Council's response to your request for a review
of the handling of your request for information concerning the Gower and
Rattlechain Tips.

Yours sincerely,

Nigel Parr

Nigel Parr
Data Protection/Freedom of Information Officer

[1]sandwell_mbc

Sandwell Council...working for you

Sandwell Council
Oldbury
West Midlands
B69 3DE
W: [2]www.sandwell.gov.uk

T: 0121 569 3248
F: 0121 569 3182
E: [3][email address]

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Mr Carroll left an annotation ()

Some information is better left buried when it generates bad news.