Condemmed Play Area – Toxic “BUNDS”

Contaminated Land in Sloughs Upton Court Parks contaminated bunds  adjacent to old children’s play area  condemmed    –Hazardous waste .  So toxic that areas which were once the children’s play parks  were left requiring extensive remediation. One of which has been removed,

Castleview DEVELOPMENT. UPTON COURT/DITTON PARK  ,  SLOUGH

HOW DID WASTE SO TOXIC IT WOULD LEAVE THE LAND AND THE PLAY AREA so contaminated it was the subject of numerous reports.

Discovered when the Olympic s 2012 building contractors did a preliminary groundwork study..

Two children’s play areas either end of the park..Both Contaminated ?

  • 21st May 1961 ,, Hawker Siddley Nuclear Power Company’s Jason Argo naught Reactors  factory destroyed by fire. (located Langley Slough SL3)
  • Waste disposed of in 1961-62? (national archive records ) Pre 1963 disposal of radioactive waste regulations.. Much prepertedly disposed of in a  local Tip Somewhere in,, Upton Court Park. Adjacent to Castle view Development field?
  • 1963 disposal of radioactive substances act.
  • 1990’s Ditton Park  (MOD site till  late 80’s) .. where watts Invented radar. (located Langley Slough SL3) Adjacent to Castle view Development field.
  • 1997 Ford sell old Reactor site. (various docs on the clean up reports etc. published)
  • 2006 re-develop existing  Colnbrook. clinical incinerator to new mass facility.
  • 21/9/2009  Slough council  give permission  to sell part of park to enable Castle View Development   Green Belt  parkland. and creation of Bunds in a meeting from which press and public are partially banned?
  • Nov 2009 Council  Allow Planning for 300 houses on Castlview Field site. 19th application over 30 years .. all previous ones stopped!
  • Nov 2009 mysterious “BUNDS” appear. Huge piles of ???  not   Harmless RUBBLE!!!
  • Nov 2009 Whats are these “Bunds”..  questions asked???
  • 2010  reports upgrading Upton’s  parks children’s play areas  for Olympics.  BUNDS and play area CONDEMMED .. TOXIC.
  • 2010- Present .. numerous ongoing attempts to halt development.
  • MARCH 2013 announced building to commence July 2013.

CHILDRENS PLAY AREAS  WERE TOO CONTAMINTED TO UPGRADE. area along side CONTENCIOUS CASTLEVIEW .. ex  GREENBELT new DEVELOPMENT!  was CONDEMENED AS TO TOXIC FOR HUMAN CONTACT.  Near both  a nursery  schools  .Has been remediated?

https://www.slough.gov.uk/moderngov/mgAi.aspx?ID=14349

Category A Assets (Assets that are likely to stay operational)

R&R 8479 SLOUGH RUGBY CLUB LAND, UPTON COURT PARK Let to Slough Rugby Club a Letting

Upton court park for the duration of the 2012  Olympics serving as the park and ride for the Dorney rowing lake.. affording the VIP guests excellent views of the castle .  a Labour council elected on social promises?  (numerous rotten borough scandals).

Upton Court Park .. Ajacent to Ditton Park (Manors of Ditton Upton date back to Domesday book, & yes William Hershel discovered Uranus  (the planet Uranium Named after) in Upton Parish when most of Slough was still a bog.

Colnbrook (SL3)  (Slough Unitary Authority) /Heathrow T5

SLOUGH – An X? anti NUCLEAR TOWN & UNITARY AUTHORITY. MASS POPULATED and developed BY THE G.L.C . developments of the 50’s and 60’s.

ONCE LIKE DESTINED TO BECOME BRITAINS NUCLEAR SHOWTOWN..

Slough | Contaminated Slough land at Upton Court Park

Slough | Contaminated Slough land at Upton Court Park

The north-west area affected covers a large area and runs from the main car park down the field and east to the main pathway.
The soil has areas with elevated levels of lead.
This problem was found while doing precautionary work prior to the installation of a new play area in the north-west section.
Events planned to be held in this part of the park have been moved to unaffected areas and the planned play area is being relocated.
Slough Officers are asking cabinet to look at a number of options including:
* hard surface sports facilities such as tennis courts or artificial football pitches
* planting of dense vegetation but with paths and trails laid so people could still access the area
* fencing off the affected area
* removal of soil and replacement with fresh soil
The Slough council is applying for grant funding from DEFRA to cover some of the total cost of the work which, depending on the
cabinet decision, is expected to be between £130,000 and £2.7million.
The council has also been in contact with the Scout Association which has a scout hut on the border of this area and Long Close School,
which is next to the park.
Nigel Dicker said: “I want to stress there is no immediate risk to health and the vast majority of the park is not affected by this issue.
“The decision to be made now is how to make the best of the situation, so the park does not lose its character, whilst making sure it is
safe to use in the long term.”
Councillor Satpal Parmar, commissioner for environment and open spaces, said: “The land quality issues were discovered during
preparations for the installation of a large play area in Upton Court Park.
“As soon as the contamination was discovered, work began on identifying the extent of the problem as well as how we could minimise
the already low risk to park users.
“We obviously want to make sure people can continue to use as much of the park as possible, in the same way as they have in the past
where it is safe to do so, so we will be looking at options at cabinet to maintain the amenity of the land.”
The main report will be discussed at the Cabinet meeting on Monday 12 July, 6.30pm, Council Chamber, Bath Road.
Slough Borough Council.

Slough a town with a nuclear history

Slough

Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough!

It isn’t fit for humans now,

There isn’t grass to graze a cow.

Swarm over, Death!

(J Betjeman – 1937)

 


The 2004 Slough Election was won by the coalition on a vow to revoke planning for  general & radioactive  waste Mega Incineration plant on the Colnbrook bypass , Now fully operational adjacent to Heathrow terminal 5.

Thanks to what can best be described as yes Minister style political skulduggery at the behest of rich powerful corporations, with vested interests in the disposal of radioactive waste. After winning the election the Council were held to ransom with the threat of bankruptcy if they overturned planning permission.

An anonymous letter received April 2004

This letter alleged that after the Second World War  Slough was at the forefront of nuclear technology development & disaster.

At the heart of this story was Hawker Siddley, the company purchased Parlant Farm Sutton Lane in 1938 and developed it into the Hawker Siddley factory and Langley airfield, which was to become one of the Air Ministry/Ministry of Supply’s (MOS) major sources of aircraft during WW2 (Hawker Siddeley produced 40,000 aircraft during the conflict).

Hawker Siddeley went on to develop nuclear reactors and technology at the site. The letter tells of nuclear disaster and subsequent burial of radioactive contaminated waste. Including burial of contaminated material in Upton Court Park.

The Radioactive Substances Act 1960, which regulated the dumping of waste did not come into force until 1963.

The story covers the entire length of British nuclear development history. Of course given the nature or radioactive contamination it will still pose a threat to future generations, long after those who buried the nuclear secrets of WW2 and the cold war have been buried and forgotten themselves.

The original which is around 1000 words (4 Pages) was received as hard copy . 

A story started during WW2 continuing in 2012 and beyond.   And what’s this got to do with the 2012 Olympics?

This document sets out to investigate the claims in letter and trace the history behind it, Since the letter was written in April  2004 events have occurred which currently leave some very serious questions to be answered.