COUNCIL chiefs have been accused of being too lenient with a company that owns a large area of polluted land.

Burt Boulton Holdings (BBH) has been given until October to remove arsenic, cyanide and other poisons from Eling Wharf, an industrial site since the 19th century.

The company is staging a similar clean-up operation on a neighbouring beach that is also polluted and has been sealed off since 2006.

If it fails to make satisfactory progress both sites are likely to be officially classified as contaminated land, which could jeopardise plans by BBH to redevelop the wharf.

But the three-month reprieve has angered members of the Liberal Democrat opposition group on New Forest District Council. They claim that the company has already been given more than enough time to deal with the issue.

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Councilllor David Harrison said: “We’re talking about an amazing cocktail of chemicals, including arsenic and cyanide.

“The council’s approach represents a softly-softly approach and I think most members would probably agree with me that we should be adopting a harder attitude.”

Members of the ruling Tory group said the authority’s decision had been based on expert advice from a leading QC.

Councillor Di Brooks, Cabinet member for leisure, said: “We’ll give the company until October, which will allow them a chance to do what they say they’ll do. If they don’t do the job properly we will look at it again.”

The decision not to immediately designate the wharf and beach as contaminated sites was taken by the council’s ruling Cabinet meeting earlier this month.

Members heard that pollution levels at the wharf were too low to jeopardise the health of workers. However, they were warned that children were likely to be affected if they came into contact with the toxins on the foreshore.

BBH chairman James Roberts told the Cabinet that the company was taking the pollution problem “extremely seriously”.

He added: “I hope this will give you confidence that the clean-up programme will remain on track. If it doesn’t, I know what to expect.”

As reported in the Daily Echo, BBH has agreed to carry out the work following lengthy negotiations with the council and other organisations.