Mums say 'contaminated land' legal bid is last resort

More and more children at Rebecca Stewart's east London playgroup are using asthma inhalers, she says.

It was about one in 40 - but now, she says, it is more like one out of every four.

"I do think it's due to the fires," Ms Stewart tells BBC News. "When the fires are burning, we can't let the children enjoy [the outdoors]. It's part of their development that they're missing out on."

The fires she describes are caused by a former illegal landfill site which has become known as the Rainham Volcano for its constantly smouldering underground blazes.

Havering Council decided last year that the site wasn't contaminated.

Clear the Air in Havering, founded by three mothers, is legally challenging that decision in the High Court.

Decades of dumping has filled Arnold's Field with about 40,000 cubic metres of unregulated waste, two storeys deep.

Campaigner Ruth Kettle-Frisby says legal action is a "last resort" for locals who have fought "for decades, to no avail".

Arnold's Field spans 17 hectares, equal to London's Emirates Stadium.

Since 2019, the London Fire Brigade (LFB) has attended fires there 121 times - but because it has not been formally designated as contaminated and is privately owned, the council has no obligation to clear it.

Last year, a council report said the landowner should do the work. Jerry O'Donovan says his company has been negotiating the land's development since buying it, but the council has been "blocking" his plans.

The landowner says he wants to build on the land and will clear it once he has planning permission to do so.

"We bought this disastrous site as we foolishly thought we could do some good for the local council/community, as well as have our own business premises to be able to expand and employ/train local people."

"We have asked to have this site removed from the green belt, as it's no benefit to the green belt," Mr O'Donovan tells BBC News.

The council says it has not received a formal planning application yet.

Ms Kettle-Frisby's group, Clear the Air in Havering, says the council must take responsibility.

"This is a crisis", she says, "and with no accountability, and responsibility ping-ponging over 20 years at least between the landowner and the council, we need someone to sort it out."

Ms Kettle-Frisby fears fumes from the fires are particularly harmful to adults with existing health conditions and to children.

"In deprived areas like Rainham, children, who are just as valuable as children anywhere, don't get that right to something as basic as the air that they breathe," she says.

The group crowdfunded the money for its legal claim.

"I really hope we are listened to," Ms Kettle-Frisby adds.

The site has a chequered past, with many years as an illegal dump and, under a previous owner, it was home to an underground drugs factory.

Locals say lung conditions such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are worsened by the smoke, which they fear could be toxic.

Babs Thwaites says the summer fires exacerbate her COPD, trapping her indoors, unable to visit friends or walk her dog.

"The particles sit in the air and I can't breathe," she says.

"It's like you're gasping for air, you're trying to grab hold of it.

"So, for me to cope, the best way is not to go out.

"I really do feel sometimes that I'm imprisoned in this house."

Ms Thwaites says her husband, who died in 2021, also had COPD.

"It started when we moved here," she says.

"That's when he got COPD.

"And I believe that developed because of the fires."

Coral Jeffery says she has developed asthma in the past six years and her daughter, Ms Stewart, who runs the playgroup, has noticed children's health deteriorating.

LFB says there were 24 fires at Arnold's Field last year alone, some lasting for days, particularly in the summer, and residents had to keep their windows closed.

And a Havering Council report noted a modest "increased risk of GP attendance by those with existing long-term respiratory conditions (such as asthma or COPD) on the day of a fire". The council does not believe the fires are the cause of diseases among residents.

Shaun Newton, from Rainham Against Pollution, believes fires constantly burn underground, even if they do not ignite on the surface.

In winter, snow does not settle because the ground is so hot.

And a thermal drone recorded a ground temperature of 176C even when the fires were not obviously burning.

"I felt the heat when I was on the ground," Mr Newton says.

"I felt the heat through my shoes.

"I dread to think what's down here.

"People are going to be stunned to the core."

Havering Council says decontaminating the site could cost millions.

Its leader, Ray Morgon, tells BBC News the council "absolutely sympathises" with residents and is "committed to trying to resolve this problem" but does not have the power to "dictate" what happens to the land.

Instead, he says: "The onus is on the private landowner... to come up with what he believes is a way of remediating the land, making it safe and, obviously, putting on the site the development he wants."

Emily Nicholson, who is representing the three mothers at court, says illegal landfills are a "huge" problem across the UK and there are "other communities suffering".

The case will look in detail at current contaminated-land statutory guidance and court findings "may well have impact for future cases".

"What this case will do... if successful, is show other councils that you can't hide behind the fact that it is private land - and when you're assessing whether or not it's contaminated land, you need to take into account the guidance fully and properly," Ms Nicholson adds.

Additional reporting by Naresh Puri and Tara Mewawalla