A TIMETABLE for work to clean up radiation-strewn Dalgety Bay beach should be delayed no longer, according to former Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
His renewed call for the decades-old saga to finally be resolved and contamination removed from the beach comes after the Ministry of Defence’s pledge to remove radioactive particles from the former Defence Aviation Repair Agency (Dara) helicopter base at Almondbank in Perthshire.
The Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath MP has again asked the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) and the ministry to give a timetable for remediation work at Dalgety Bay.
The politician said there were similarities between the radioactive contamination at both the Perthshire former aircraft repair site and Dalgety Bay in both cases the radiation has been linked to the use of radium in Second World War aircraft.
He welcomed the announcement that the clean-up would begin at the Dara establishment, one of nine sites in Scotland contaminated by the material, on January 21.
But he said the authorities should no longer delay a timetable for work at Dalgety Bay.
Now that the investigation work was over, he wants the clean-up to start in May.
Mr Brown wants Sepa to designate the responsible party which he said would probably be the MoD and then ask those responsible to provide the funding for the clean-up.
“We welcome action in Perth but we know action is also needed in Fife, which was the first case of radiation pollution to come to light,” he said.
“We know that the investigation has been completed.”
“We now want a date for the start of the clean-up. And we now need an announcement of who is to fund it.
“This will require the Scottish Environment Protection Agency to nominate the party responsible for the pollution.”
Mr Brown reiterated his plea for more people to add their signatures to a petition on Dalgety Bay Community Council’s website.
leclark@thecourier.co.uk