Gordon Brown has sent the MoD new evidence he says confirms the culpability of the ministry for dumping radioactive materials on Dalgety Bay.
For months now the ministry has refused to admit its responsibility for the pollution and has yet to accept it will fund the clean up, the former Prime Minister said.
Instead, he added, the MoD has asked that developers, builders and others be scrutinised to see if they have dumped or moved radioactive materials.
Now the Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath MP has said the painstaking research by local community council chairman Colin McPhail shows the Ministry must pay up and admit it is at fault.
In damning new evidence Mr McPhail uncovered anecdotal evidence which Mr Brown said identified how the MoD which had a Second World War airfield at Donibristle had dumped materials at Dalgety Bay during the fifties.
He said Mr McPhail’s report countered the coastal processes report, which made no mention of the role of the MoD in dumping materials but suggested debris was shifted after the 1960s.
The MP said the facts showed that in November 1959 Moray Estates Development Company re-acquired the estate from the Admiralty but in the deeds of sale, there was no admission of contaminated land.
And when in May 1961 Dalgety Bay was proposed as a new town to accommodate 7,000 people on 500 acres, there was no mention of any radiation.
He said Mr McPhail’s report showed besides radioactive particles, a number of pieces of broken crockery bearing WD (War Department) markings, cutlery, bullets, aircraft dials, bits of aircraft and various old bottles had also been found in the 1990s along the foreshore which can be identified as coming from the airfield.
He said evidence gathered also apparently showed a resident witnessing a dump of incinerated aircraft instrumentation equipment “almost overhanging the shore” in 1946.
Another resident said his father had been employed by the MoD in the fifties as an aircraft fitter and claimed he was involved in taking unwanted aircraft to be dumped at Dalgety Bay.
Another resident said her late father was employed by the MoD as a driver and was involved with the clearing of the airfield and the dumping of material at a hole near a cliff in Dalgety Bay at the end of the 1950s.
A former RAF pilot also told Mr McPhail he knew the breaking and disposal of aircraft was going on and was told aircraft machinery had been dumped in the swamp of Ross plantation.
And the relative of the owner of a family roofing and plastering business had a contract with the Ministry of Works from 1940 onward for work at Donibristle Airfield.
He stated the official dump for all rubbish was where the sailing club now sits.
“From the evidence obtained, it is quite clear the MoD was involved in the disposal of aircraft material on the foreshore, which included incinerated dials, paint pots etc that has resulted in the radioactive contamination,” Mr McPhail said.
Mr Brown added: “My conclusion is that given that SEPA says the materials were dumped and that they believe the cause of the radiation was materials from the planes that were dumped by the Ministry of Defence, everyone’s resolve should now be strengthened that the MoD take responsibility for and fund the clean up.
“The sooner an agreement is reached the better.”