Promised canal restoration is toxic waste dump

DEVELOPERS, Stonewater, promised restoration of a section of the filled-in Hereford & Gloucester Canal after getting permission for a £23m housing project.

But the houses are being built yet the line of the canal is little more than a dump for waste, Janet Friend reports.

Contaminating

Volunteers fear the building waste and rubble could be contaminating the line of the canal and wetland.

Building houses on a brownfield site in Hereford was championed as a green and sustainable way of tackling the housing shortage by developers Stonewater, with part of the project involving the restoration of a stretch of the former Hereford & Gloucester Canal turning it into a green-way for walking and cycling.

But all there is is the waste from the building work - soil, concrete and metal that has been left on top of the proposed stretch of canal, about which some residents are most concerned.

Toxic waste could leak

There is concern toxic waste could leak out into the canal and the nearby park from the dumped waste.

There is no 'nice green corridor' a volunteer told. What we've got is a pile of contaminated soil and waste piled two metres high on top of a beautiful site.