A disused quarry in Nairn which was once used for dumping World War II military aircraft will be transformed into community woodland following successful radiation tests.
Last year, council experts conducted ground investigations and radiological surveys at the overgrown former sand and gravel quarry at Kingsteps.
There was public concern that aircraft parts dumped at the council-owned quarry may have contained radioactive contamination from luminised paint found in the dials of wartime aircraft, as these can emit low levels of radiation.
But a final report has concluded that there is no chemical contamination of the site, which is populated with animals like roe deer and is surrounded by housing.
It means that no public access restrictions will be needed for low impact activities such as walking. However, appropriate health and safety measures will be a requirement for all future maintenance ground work at the site after one of the 92 samples collected showed a presence of asbestos.
Nairn councillor Laurie Fraser said: “This is a good news story for Nairn and in particular the residents of Lochloy who make use of the old quarry. It will allow us, and the community, to forge ahead with landscape and footpath improvements for the area. Hopefully in a few years we will see more use of the land, bearing in mind that it is still a haven for a number of wildlife animals and this we would want to encourage.”
He added: “What we would like to do is improve the footpaths by widening them and making them stable for disabled access. These things take time and in order to do a proper job let it evolve as woodland it will likely take about 25 years.”
Staff in the council’s Development and Infrastructure Service and the local authority’s Contaminated Land Unit carried out a radiological survey and site works which involved 38 trial pits, eight hand puts and six boreholes to collect soil and groundwater samples.
The Development and Insfrastructure Service will now have discussions with the Nairn community to identify aspirations for site improvements, especially in relation to upgrading the path network.
