It was billed as the biggest facelift a British city would ever see. When the Eastside project was launched five years ago, it promised to give one of Birmingham's most deprived areas a lavish £1.5 billion overhaul providing thousands of new jobs and homes. Cash would be ploughed into Deritend, Digbeth and Bordesley, making the Eastside plan more ambitious than Brindleyplace, Broad Street and the Bullring put together. But today the Sunday Mercury can reveal how the plan has been brought to a shuddering halt - because of a toxic timebomb Birmingham City Council FORGOT about. A leaked report shows a trail of blunders by council planners who failed to spot the MacDermid metal finishing plant on their original blueprints. And it reveals how the deadly chemicals kept at MacDermid's site mean strict planning restrictions are already in place - jeopardising the future of Eastside altogether. It also shows how more than 2,000 people already live inside an inner danger zone surrounding the factory where toxic clouds would hit if a catastrophic fire or air crash occurred. Now, the council could face a lengthy legal battle to keep their dream scheme alive. Even then, Eastside could ultimately be subject to a full public inquiry and key parts of the project could be scrapped. Last night, an MP whose constituency borders the Eastside site described the council's blunder as 'very disturbing'. Roger Godsiff, MP for Sparkbrook and Small Heath, said: "I think the city council has some explaining to do. "After reading your article, I will be writing to their planning department to ask for full details on this." American-owned MacDermid plc bought the plant in Palmer Street, Bordesley, from a long-established Birmingham chemicals company, W Canning, in 1998. In what would later be seen as a bizarre twist, the council handed MacDermid a £500,000 sweetener that year to maintain employment in Bordesley - despite the firm having no intention of moving. Instead, they continued their business as usual, which involved using and storing some of the most dangerous substances known to man. That cocktail includes deadly cyanide, chromic acid and sodium dichromate - all potentially disastrous if released into the atmosphere. Just five years ago, MacDermid was given 'Hazardous Substance Consent' by the local authority for their plant. The company had an impeccable record for safety in the UK, although in America their parent firm had been fined more than $2.5 million for breaching environmental laws. The consent allowed MacDermid, which has 14 bases worldwide, to store and use a wide range of toxic substances at their Bordesley base. In return, three 'consultation' or danger zones were drawn up by experts to counter a potential doomsday scenario at the factory. The outer zone - almost a mile across - cuts through the centre circle at Birmingham City's St Andrew's ground and almost reaches Moor Street station where tens of thousands of commuters pass through each day. The danger zones mark out where fallouts from disasters such as a fire or an air crash could occur - such as highly toxic poison clouds forming in the sky. Our map shows exactly where those zones were imposed. But the leaked development control committee report reveals that just one year after consent was given to the company, council chiefs had forgotten about MacDermid. They ignorantly pressed ahead with an Eastside dream funded largely by public money provided by the council and regional development agency Advantage West Midlands. Incredibly, they did not realise the whole project - the largest regeneration scheme in Britain - could crumble because of strict planning restrictions affecting building near hazardous sites. And at the turn of this year that oversight came back to haunt them. Councillors were shocked when they discovered that Health and Safety Executive (HSE) experts were likely to block most of the Eastside development on safety grounds. At the time the committee kept the devastating revelation secret. But the damning report, written by chief planning officer Emrys Jones, reveals how huge housing developments at the new Warwick Bar and Rea Village sites are now in serious jeopardy. Plans for student accommodation at the former Castle Cement site, now called Curzon Gateway, are also under threat, as is the proposed city park. More than 6,000 jobs and 3,000 homes would be created in the nine-acre Eastside plan. If it flopped they would be lost - and the projected 50,000 daily visitors to the area would never materialise. The report reads: "For those [proposed projects] in the inner zone they [the HSE] would potentially pursue this further and ask the Deputy Prime Minister to 'call in' any such application on safety grounds. "They have indicated that they would do this in respect of the former Castle Cement Site. This creates significant problems in terms of the city's proposals for Eastside... Warwick Bar, the Media Village and Rea Village." Council chiefs now want Mac-Dermid to scale down their operation but the firm are refusing to budge without compensation. MacDermid has declined to comment on the cost of relocating, but it is believed the figure could be more than £10 million. Yet according to the report, MacDermid may not ultimately have a choice. Barristers have already been consulted and the council are threatening High Court action under an obscure section of the 1990 Planning (Hazardous Substances) Act. "Legal advice has been obtained from leading counsel," the report reads. "...one of the options could be the service of a notice... to modify the existing deemed consent... "The effect of either reducing the quantity or the range of materials stored could have the effect of substantially reducing the consultation zone... "MacDermid would have a right of appeal. Nevertheless unless this problem is addressed a large element of the city council's plans for the regeneration and transformation of the Eastside area will be jeopardised... "The constraints imposed by the consultation zones triggered by the materials and processes used by MacDermid plc is a serious threat to these ambitions... "In these circumstances the service of a notice... is... essential...The current Hazardous Substance Consent imposes a major threat to the delivery of the Eastside vision." Last night, MacDermid declined to comment when approached by the Sunday Mercury. Meanwhile, councillors were desperately trying to paper over the cracks of the Eastside project, knowing that a long legal battle could send costs soaring and ultimately result in a full public inquiry. When we approached Coun Rene Spector, chair of the development control committee, she was left stunned by our story. "Oh, my goodness! How did you find out about this? It is a private report," she said. "I don't want you to print this. It is scaremongering." When pressed on whether Eastside was now doomed, she added: "It could be threatened, yes. I don't know. I only found out about this on Monday when it was handed to me. "I still think Eastside will go ahead ultimately though." | 
