RESIDENTS have been told that repair work being carried out to houses amid an investigation into the cause of childhood leukaemia will protect them from any contaminants found in the ground.

Tests on soil removed from gardens on the Muir Group housing estate in Leftwich where two toddlers died from a rare form of cancer are ongoing, but housing chiefs say remedial work on the properties will keep them safe.

Investigation work started last year after the deaths of Rebecca Watts, of Muirfield Close, and Sharon Pymer, of Greenlaw Close, from acute myeloid leukaemia. It is highly unusual that two fatalities from the rare condition would occur in such close proximity.

Repair work being undertaken includes the clearing out of the area between ground level and the floor of each property, increasing ventilation in that area and in the cavity walls, and the installation of gas-proof mem-

branes. Work on nearly a quarter of the homes has been complete.

At an update meeting last week, residents were also told that 1,200 tonnes of soil from six gardens on the estate, formerly a waste tip, had been removed and tested. Work on the homes is being carried out because small traces of methane and carbon dioxide - likely to stem from the estate's former use as a tip and not linked to leukaemia - had been found.

A spokesman for environmental consultancy RSK ENSR, which is carrying out the work, said: 'The properties on the estate now have a better level of protection from ground gases than new houses built on similar land to the strictest NHBC standards.'

Vale Royal Borough Council principal environmental health officer Rupert Adams said: 'Most material dumped on the land before it became housing was inert material including soil, rubble and concrete, along with rotting wood and other vegetation re-

sponsible for the production of methane.

'Regarding the soil that has been taken away for testing, we haven't found masses of contaminated material, just small pockets of contamination. That is completely different from the results you would find if you did the tests at a municipal tip.'

He said that what has been found could well have come from old tyres, oil filters and even paint tins dumped on the site previously, but that tests were not yet complete. It was too early to say whether anything found could be linked to the cases of leukaemia.

He added: 'The only real area where anything has been found is in the area around 2 Muirfield Close, and this is where the excavated material has been taken from. Thousands of samples have been taken - I have never known a site to be so thoroughly investigated, but rightly so because residents need to be reassured and we want to give ourselves the best possible chance of

answering their questions.'

He said a report into the soil samples was expected to be completed in October, but it will be some months before findings can be drawn.

He added: 'We recognise that this is an anxious time for residents and we are all keen to see the final report and its conclusion from RSK ENSR.

'We are not just looking at the results from the soil testing, as there are other areas the team is investigating into what could possibly have triggered this form of cancer that is nothing to do with the location, for instance something natural in the community like a viral infection.

'The work we are doing here is more than a bit ground-breaking, because we want answers.

'But what is important to stress is that when the work is finished these houses will be completely safe to live in - and that includes protecting the residents from any other chemicals that might be around and that could possibly be linked to the leukaemia.'