Corby Families Pursuing Answers Concerning Toxic Waste Locations

Alison Gaffney and Andy Hinde received heartbreaking diagnosis in 2018 when their young son Fraser was found to have a rare type of blood cancer.

An extended period of gruelling treatment followed, including cancer medications, targeted radiation, and immunotherapy before a bone marrow procedure. The young boy, by age three, made a remarkable improvement from the operation, with medical staff announcing the illness in recovery.

During this period that Alison, aged thirty-six, began looking for answers. She remained troubled by comments made by medical professionals at the time of her Fraser's condition. “We lose sleep wondering how Fraser got his disease,” a specialist had shared with her.

“We can't sleep wondering how he got his disease,” a consultant had shared with her.

Past Events

The negligent management of vast quantities of contaminated waste after the shutdown of Europe’s largest steelworks in the town in 1979 had “always been a known thing,” said Alison. A court ruling connected the council’s negligent clean-up of the site to a string of birth defects in community youth during the 1980s and 1990s.

Over time, Gaffney started to link the situation to her own. “[Fraser’s cancer] is not genetic,” she said. “So what are the reasons? … It has to be down to the town. Numerous young people [with] illness.

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

Community Action

Gaffney and Hinde started to reach out to more parents in their community with parallel situations – including some of the mother's ex-school friends at their former educational institution – and the group began gathering detailed records on those affected. They now spearhead a campaign advocating for about many parents with cases of pediatric illness going back to 1988.

The organization has been urging the town council to investigate any connections between occurrences of childhood cancer in Corby and the closure of the plant. Soon, health authorities are expected to release their analysis of whether the community has had a unusually high rate of occurrences of youth disease for its population of the local community.

“What we seek is to attempt to safeguard coming generations so they do not have to endure the pain that we've experienced,” said Alison.

Legal Precedents

The judgment in the 2009 civil claim recognized that, between a fourteen-year period, vast quantities of toxic substances from the steel plant were transported “regularly” from the south of Corby to a specific location in the opposite end – with “large quantities” of hazardous materials carried and deposited on local thoroughfares and “substantial quantities” of particulate matter produced by the cleanup.

However, it also mentioned reports from the environmental authorities in 1997 that identified stockpiles of toxic substances that had been abandoned at the site were later removed in “substantial volumes”.

Additional Issues

Gaffney believes contaminated materials was not exclusively placed at the primary location but in additional areas of the community. Recently, she applauded a “significant progress” after North Northamptonshire council said it would examine land that could be tainted and study where contaminated substances was deposited.

Alison said government representatives admitted in the discussion that they did not know where the locations of hazardous substances could be. “They explained: ‘We don’t know where these locations are. Documentation is missing, we have nothing on it.’”

Public Endorsement

The government declaration was also supported by another parent, a educational worker at a local school, whose young child, her daughter, was diagnosed with blood cancer in the summer.

“I needed to cut my young child's hair because her tresses was falling out from the treatments she had to administer to eliminate her illness. So actually it’s in the community's concern, it’s in Bella’s interest [for the council] to reveal that knowledge,” she explained.

“Numerous residents in the area that have been found to have childhood cancer and I just feel it’s too much to ignore – it demands examination. This is unusual.”

Family Experiences

Meg Lyons, 31, who has a professional career and now lives in London, said households merited “complete and utter truth and clarity” from the local authority.

The woman's family member, her sister, died on in recent years after being found to have a uncommon malignancy at the childhood. The girl, who collected money for medical research, was “among the lovable, entertaining and kindest” people, Lyons recalled.

Her family member remembers the effect of the shutdown of the industrial facility on the area, she said. “She said you were unable to place your hand in before you because [of] the colored dust.”

“These issues have continued since I’ve probably been about early childhood. It’s an excessive amount of time and it is irresponsibility toward the local residents.”

Past Associations

Another family member, a community member, was part of multiple households connected to the 2009 claim against the then Corby council after her newborn was born with a congenital issue. Her husband, the man, was one of the truck operators involved in transporting materials from the industrial site. Their experience was depicted in a recent series, and showed the mother removing the dust from her partner's pants.

The campaign leader said the collective has been reached out to by whistleblowers who were responsible for the placement of substances in the town.