Maine Road Decontamination Starts at Last after One-Year Delay

7.17.45pm UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 13th Nov 2006

Remediation work to make the ground safe at the former Manchester City Football ground at Maine Road is beginning at last, a year after it was supposed to start.

Preparatory excavation work gets underway in Moss Side on Tuesday 14th November, with the innovative "bio-remediation" due to start in January 2007. The "bio-remediation" will safely remove contaminants, making the ground safe for new housing and a proposed new school. Residents have been warned to expect pungent smells between now and Christmas, as the material is brought to the surface. However, an odour neutralizer will be sprayed, and Council officials state there will be no health dangers or side-effects.

The "bio-remediation" contractor's machines first moved in a year ago, expecting to start decontamination work at the end of last year. But the safety work has been delayed till now, due to a twelve-month delay in obtaining approval from the Environment Agency.

Councillor Paul Shannon, Manchester's Deputy Liberal Democrat Leader, who represents Rusholme and lives near the site, stated:

"It seems that the City Council under-estimated how long it would take the Environment Agency to issue the approval licence needed before decontamination work can begin."

"Manchester City moved out of Maine Road in the summer of 2003. Who would have guessed that decontamination work would only start in January 2007, and construction work on new housing later in 2007? At this rate, by the time they start building the new houses (Phases 1 and 2) in 2007, it will be nearly four years since the football club left, which is far too long!"

Councillor Shannon, a member of the Maine Road Regeneration Steering Group, went on:

"I understand that the Council are reviewing their procedures to make sure that lessons from this needless twelve-month delay are learned."

"Like residents in Rusholme and Moss Side, I want to see top-class regeneration at Maine Road. We want new housing, with affordability for local residents, a new school and a health facility. Public bodies must work together to ensure that this is what happens."

End

Notes to Editors:

Bio-remediation is the process of using safe, beneficial organisms (mainly bacteria) to degrade environmentally-harmful contaminants and transform them to less harmful forms. Depending on the site and its contaminants, in-situ bio-remediation may be safer and less expensive than alternative solutions such as incineration or landfilling of the contaminated materials.

The Maine Road remediation contract is to deal with the risk to groundwater and will treat TPHs (total petroleum hydrocarbons), by means of bio-remediation; there is also some lead, which cannot be treated by bio-remediation and will be removed to landfill sites.

Housing phases 1 and 2 consist of 65 residential units, all of which are three and four bedroom houses with courtyard parking. Phase 2 includes the Maine Road "village green". Council officials predict that Phases 1 and 2 will start on site in 2007 and that the first homes will be complete around a year later. There will be 8 phases in all, from 2007-2011.

In 2005 the Government rejected a funding application for a new school at Maine Road. The Council applied for funds again in 2006, and are expecting to learn any day now if a new Maine Road school has been accepted for funding by Government.

The Council are in discussions with the Primary Care Trust (PCT) to reach agreement on a new healthcare facility at Maine Road.