Contaminated Broadway West playing field review due

The status of a contaminated West Midlands playing field is to be reviewed after it was deemed unsafe for ball games but safe for dog walkers.

Walsall Council banned all ball games in Broadway West Playing Field when zinc, lead and cyanide were discovered at the former landfill site in 2003.

The issue was debated by councillors but a closure decision was never made.

The council's new leisure portfolio holder said he would resolve the issue and either close it or fully open it.

Antony Harris, Walsall Council cabinet member for leisure and the environment, said: "I am as concerned as anyone about the playing field.

"It is unacceptable we are still in the same situation seven years later.

"It seems likely that the level of risk is very low, in which case we should open it up completely."

Mr Harris said he had ordered fresh tests to determine the current levels of contamination and had no plans to dispose of the land, if it was useable for recreation.

"Money is short but this is a football year and with the Olympics around the corner we can not have a piece of green land that is unavailable," he added.