Corby BC could be sued for millions of pounds by 18 young people in Northamptonshire who say their birth defects are due to their mothers being exposed to a ‘soup of toxic materials'. The group, aged from nine to 22, have taken the council to the High Court in an action which will last 10 weeks. The council denies allegations it was negligent during reclamation works at the town's former British Steel plant between 1985 and 1999, and that there was a link between the removal of waste to a quarry north of the site and deformities affecting the youngsters' hands and feet. Queen's Counsel for the children, David Wilby, said: ‘These young people have serious disabilities – some of them have missing or undeveloped fingers or no fingers at all, and three have deformities of their feet.' The judge will consider whether the council owed a duty of care to the claimants during the clean-up operation and, if so, whether airborne pollutants could cause the defects and whether that was foreseeable.
