A Kinross group has raised concerns the local authority is not doing enough to ensure people moving into a new housing scheme will be protected from an invisible but deadly gas.
According to the Lathro Action Group (LAG) recent mapping of Kinross has confirmed much of the land in the Lathro Farm area where Persimmon Homes has permission to build up to 300 homes and has already started construction contains a radioactive gas called Radon.
Described in recent media reports as one of the country’s “worst environmental pollutants”, Radon is a naturally occurring gas produced by the decay of uranium in underground soils and rocks which can seep into buildings through cracks and cause lung cancer if it is continually inhaled.
Its presence at Lathro Farm was also confirmed in a report recommending councillors approve Persimmon Homes’ planning application which stated the site had been “identified as being in an area of intermediate risk for Radon” and “as such Radon protection measures should be considered.”
However a concerned LAG spokesperson believes council officers failed to impose a specific condition on the developer’s consent for the scheme to ensure the houses are built with appropriate protection from Radon to safeguard people moving in from the deadly gas.
And the spokesperson has now expressed alarm after a PKC official stated his belief in an email, seen by the PA, that it does not have to check any of the houses are actually built with such protection and that in any case the legal responsibility to ensure the houses are protected from Radon “lies solely with the [home]
owner[s].”
“There is no doubt that [the responsibility] lies fairly and squarely with PKC,” argued the LAG spokesperson. “I seem to be the only one who has seriously questioned PKC on this and I have certainly found their supposedly responsible officers wanting.”
And he stressed: “Radon is not only a serious hazard to health – it is a proven killer.”
But a council spokesperson countered: “LAG was advised by the council in late November 2017 that Persimmon Homes would be fitting all plots at the Lathro Farm site with a Radon barrier, as per a previous report regarding contaminated land, in line with their responsibilities as the developer.
“The provision of the Radon barrier is being independently verified by qualified engineers and the council as planning authority will receive submissions to certify this has been completed on plots in accordance with the manufacturer’s specification.”
