THE whole of the Malvern's DERA site will need to be investigated for any sign of land contamination.

Under the Environmental Protection Act, Malvern Hills District Council has to survey the district and draw up a strategy to carry out any work to clean up the land.

Frank Seabright, head of environmental health services at MHDC, said although the district has not been home to large areas of industry or manufacturing, there are still sites which may have been used by activities which polluted the land.

"We've only got a few sites where industry is likely to have left the ground polluted and some of that will have to be cleared up but there are other sites we know of which need work doing if there is going to be a change of use.

"For example, if the pollution is buried in the ground and covered with concrete it can stay there quite happily but if a housing estate is going to be built over it, there could be a problem.

"I'm not aware of any radiation stores in the area and there are no large sites of chemicals, but old factories will need to be checked over and the whole of DERA will have to be looked at.

"We'll be working extremely closely with the Environment Agency on this because it's a site where all sorts of things will have gone on."

A spokeswoman for DERA said they were aware of the contaminated land survey being carried out by the council.

"We will, of course, offer our full co-operation, however we do not anticipate any problems," she said.