Bawtry gasworks contamination information

53°25′40″N 1°01′00″W / 53.4278°N 1.0167°W / 53.4278; -1.0167

Bawtry

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Bawtry shown within South Yorkshire.

In 2001, an area of residential land in Bawtry, South Yorkshire, England was found to contain hazardous by-products from the manufacture of coal gas. Under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, decontamination was held to be the responsibility of National Grid Gas (NGG), even though the negligence may have dated back before the 1948 nationalisation.

This decision could have left NGG liable for thousands of similar cases, and would have discouraged beneficial development of brownfield sites. On appeal, the House of Lords ruled that NGG did not knowingly permit the pollution, and therefore could not be held accountable.