Corby Families Searching for Clarity Regarding Hazardous Substances Sites

A concerned parent and her partner were given devastating news in 2018 when their young son their child was diagnosed with a rare type of childhood cancer.

An extended period of demanding therapies followed, involving chemotherapy, targeted radiation, and biological therapies before a bone marrow procedure. Fraser, at three years old, made a “miraculous recovery” from the operation, with medical staff declaring the disease in recovery.

It was at this point that Alison, aged thirty-six, began investigating answers. She could not stop thinking about remarks made by hospital staff at the time of her child's illness. “We're tormented wondering how our son got his cancer,” a doctor had informed her.

“We're constantly wondering wondering how Fraser got his illness,” a consultant had told her.

Past Events

The improper handling of vast quantities of contaminated waste after the shutdown of Europe’s largest steelworks in Corby in 1979 had “widely acknowledged,” said Alison. A legal proceeding associated the local authority's mismanagement of the site to a series of developmental issues in local children during the previous decades.

Increasingly, the concerned mother started to connect the case to her own. “[His illness] is not genetic,” she explained. “What could cause this? … It’s got to be down to the town. All these kids [with] the disease.

“Every resident knows somebody who’s got a child [with] the disease. That's unusual.”

Grassroots Movement

Gaffney and Hinde started to contact other families in Corby with parallel situations – among them some of the mother's ex-school friends at Brooke Weston Academy – and the group began gathering comprehensive documentation on those involved. They now lead a movement advocating for about 130 families with situations of childhood cancer starting from 1988.

The collective has been calling on the local authority to examine any relationships between cases of childhood cancer in this community and the decommissioning of the plant. At the end of this month, public health officials are expected to release their analysis of whether the area has had a unusually high rate of instances of pediatric illness for its residents of the local community.

“What we seek is to work to secure future people so they do not have to endure the suffering that we’ve been through,” said Alison.

Previous Cases

The ruling in the 2009 civil claim accepted that, between the 1980s and 1990s, millions of tonnes of contaminated materials from the steel plant were relocated “almost invariably” from the south of Corby to a designated site in the opposite end – with “large quantities” of toxic waste transported and dumped on community streets and “considerable amounts” of airborne particles created by the cleanup.

Nonetheless, it also referenced documents from the environmental authorities in 1997 that identified accumulations of contaminated material that had been left at this location were later taken away in “significant amounts”.

Expanding Concerns

Alison believes waste was not only dumped at the primary location but in additional areas of the municipality. Recently, she approved a “important advancement” after North Northamptonshire council said it would examine land that could be polluted and research where contaminated substances was disposed of.

Alison said council staff acknowledged in the discussion that they were unaware where the sites of hazardous substances could be. “They explained: ‘We lack information where these locations are. There are no records, we possess no information.’”

Local Backing

The official statement was also supported by Tonia Shalgosky, a pastoral lead at a primary school, whose school-aged girl, her daughter, was diagnosed with blood cancer in the summer.

“I needed to cut my young child's scalp because her hair was shedding from the treatments she had to take to destroy her disease. So actually it’s in everyone's benefit, it’s in the child's wellbeing [for the council] to disclose that data,” she stated.

“There are so many individuals in the community that have been confirmed to have childhood cancer and I believe it’s cannot be dismissed – it needs looking at. This can’t be normal.”

Family Experiences

A community member, aged thirty-one, who is employed in business and now resides elsewhere, said households earned “full transparency and clarity” from the government.

Lyons’s family member, her sister, died on in recent years after being diagnosed with a uncommon malignancy at the young age. Eve, who fundraised for cancer charities, was “one of the most charming, funniest and kindest” persons, the sister said.

Her parent recollects the consequence of the shutdown of the steel plant on the community, Lyons explained. “She recalled you could not position your hand in before you because [of] the particulate matter.”

“These issues have continued since I’ve probably been about early childhood. This duration is unreasonable and it is negligence toward the local residents.”

Previous Involvement

Another family member, a local resident, was among numerous families participating in the 2009 claim against the previous administration after her infant was diagnosed with a congenital issue. Her spouse, her partner, was one of the truck operators participating in removing waste from the industrial site. Their situation was depicted in a media production, and illustrated the mother cleaning the dust from her spouse's clothing.

Gaffney said the campaign group has been contacted by individuals with information who were participating in the dumping of materials in the area.