Dating tip

Paul Pemberton has launched a campaign to apply for European funding.

It is thought the pool at Rhos, built at a former brickworks, contains more than 1,100 chemical drums dumped since the 1960s.

Mr Pemberton and council leader Aled Roberts have put together a dossier to present to the assembly government and European Parliament.

The lagoon is known to contain drums of sodium and sulphuric acid, but locals say they have no idea what else is there.

Wrexham council inherited the old brickworks site from former Clwyd County Council, which bought it from the brick company more than 25 years ago.

If Wrexham council were to take this on and do it, we would have no education, no road-sweeping, we would have nothing at all Councillor Paul Pemberton

The Environment Agency monitors the site, but does not recommend a clean-up because it is currently stable with no significant “pollutant linkages”.

Now there are fears Wrexham Council - with a budget of 170m - will never be able to afford the massive price tag quoted by consultants.

Mr Pemberton and Mr Roberts have compiled records dating back to the start of the tipping in 1960.

They now plan to appeal to MPs, AMs and the European Parliament to raise the money.

Mr Pemberton said: “Our budget for the whole year is in the region of 170m, and then we’re getting estimates of clearing the site of 100m.

“If Wrexham council were to take this on and do it, we would have no education, no road-sweeping, we would have nothing at all.

The pool caught fire in 1980 and the effects were felt for miles

“We have managed to put a portfolio together and an appeal. That’s going off to Cardiff to the assembly and also off to Brussels.”

Meanwhile, one skin cancer victim wants to know whether the pool - which he played near as a child - is linked to his illness.

‘Ignite again’

Although there is no proven link, Bryn Hughes said he and a friend - who both used the tip as a playground as youngsters - contracted dermatofibrosarcoma.

He claims his surgeon was amazed to see two people suffering from the disease.

Mr Hughes, who was diagnosed in 2000, said: “We have undergone big operations to get rid of it. Thankfully now, it’s all over, I hope.

“The surgeon in the hospital couldn’t understand why there was two people at the same time with the same form of cancer.

“It led us to believe maybe there was a reason.”

He added: “There was no , no fencing to stop children going in there.

“If there’s a possibility that place has caused anything that’s happened to me and my friend, somebody’s got to do something about it.”

In 1980, the pool caught fire and the effects of pollution were felt 20 miles away.

It took 60 nearly 18 hours to bring the blaze under control, and there are fears it could ignite again.