Chepstow FoE is a member organisation of the Glebelands Alliance which is seeking justice in the environmental matters arising from development of the Glebelands hazardous waste landfill site in St Julians, Newport.

Newport council, with the support of the Welsh Government, permitted the Glan Usk Primary School to be built on top of this severely contaminated site without the benefit of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).

The Glebelands Alliance alleges that the original planning permission and subsequent planning permission amendments were unlawful, and that remediation of the contaminated land was botched.

No attempt was made to find the source of elevated radiation measurements recorded at the site prior to building the new primary school.

In addition, there remains an open and unlined drainage ditch that cuts across the contaminated site and empties directly into the River Usk SSSI and SAC which, in turn, flows into the Severn Estuary SPA.

A request to Newport council to revoke planning permission was ignored. A subsequent request to the Welsh Government concluded that unlawful actions and decisions of a local authority, and breaches of the EIA Directives, cannot be dealt with by the revocation process.

A complaint about the development has been submitted to the European Commission. A request for an EIA screening direction has been submitted to the Secretary of State for Wales.

More details are available on the Glebelands Alliance pages.