Golfers warned not to retrieve balls from water on contaminated course

Staff at a council-owned golf course built on contaminated land should wear overalls, gloves and goggles while golfers should not retrieve balls from water, according to an advice note seen by the BBC.

Flooding and heavy rain at Malkins Bank Golf Club in Sandbach, Cheshire, have led to red-coloured liquid with a "horrendous" smell coming to the surface of the course.

Cheshire East Council insisted it was safe to play on and work at, despite being a former industrial landfill site officially designated as contaminated land.

The current operator is not responsible for the contamination or for remedying it and did not respond to requests for a comment. The council is responsible for remedying it.

Karen Mason, whose husband used to feel ill when playing at the course, said the precautions advised by the council "sound like going to play golf at Chernobyl".

"You shouldn't have to use these measures – it's supposed to be an open, healthy environment, not a hazardous site," she said.

The land close to the M6 motorway was a chemical factory and salt works from the 19th Century but became an industrial waste tip in the 1950s.

In 2011, the council officially designated the course as contaminated, meaning "poisonous, noxious or polluting matter" from under the surface of the course was "entering controlled waters".

However, the council told the BBC this month that "specialist investigations" concluded the site "is suitable for its current use as a golf course, with assessments consistently finding low risk to human health".

"Appropriate advice has been provided to staff and users to promote good hygiene and safe working practices, reflecting the site's history and ongoing management," a spokesperson said.

Former operator Tony Minshall told the BBC the safety advice he received in 2019, which has been seen by the BBC, was "terrible" and golfers often "didn't take any notice of it" because it was "difficult" to comply with.

Minshall, whose company operated the course on a lease from the council in collaboration with former Masters champion and European Ryder Cup team captain Ian Woosnam, said flooding since 2018 had "pushed all the contaminants out of the ground" at the 15th fairway, leaving "red stuff everywhere".

"The smell was horrendous, you'd never smelt anything like it," he said.

An underground drainage system pipes liquid from the land into the Birchenwood Brook, next to the 15th fairway and runs through part of the course.

The standing advice note - still in force - that was sent to Minshall by the council seven years ago, advised him that his staff should wear "appropriate PPE (personal protective equipment)" including boots, gloves and overalls.

The note went on to say they should wear goggles "where necessary" and wash their clothes at work or "in a dedicated load of washing" at home.

The advice said golfers should avoid retrieving lost balls from pooled water or from the brook, and should wash hands using nail brushes "if necessary".

The smell at the site was "not … a risk to human health", the note said.

Minshall said he was not informed that any precautions for staff or golfers would be necessary when he took on the lease in 2011, but was told his staff should not dig below a certain depth on the site.

He also said he was not informed about the course's official status as contaminated land – owing to its long history as an industrial site before becoming a tip containing unknown quantities of dangerous chemicals.

A Cheshire East Council report said "very little information exists" about what was dumped at the site or about what was removed from it before it became a municipal golf course in the 1970s.

Residents complained about lorries coming and going to the tip "during the night-time hours, raising concerns of uncontrolled tipping", the report added.

An NHS investigation into concerns about elevated cancer rates near the site was carried out in 2001, but concluded any difference in local rates were not statistically significant. Residents criticised its methodology.

Environment Agency water sampling at the site in 2017 and 2019 found 19 "contaminants of concern" which were "above the current guidance levels".

They included potentially cancer-causing chemicals arsenic and benzene as well as lead, cyanide and toluene, which at high levels can cause illness and in extreme cases death.

Former golf club member Graham Warner said he remembered the 15th fairway being "pretty acrid" in the winter months, with a "chemical" odour that smelt "terrible".

"You wouldn't walk into it if your balls went into it," he said.

Karen Mason's husband David told the BBC he used to feel ill on parts of the course next to the brook, although he accepted he did not have conclusive proof linking his symptoms to the course.

"I started to feel as if I'd been drinking, but I'd not been drinking at all," he said, while later in the clubhouse he said he would "be suffering with mild brain fog".

Warner lives near the course and questioned whether some of the contamination might be spreading through underground brine runs.

He cited a 1973 Cheshire County Council report in which a geologist concluded liquid from the site "may travel large distances without very much dilution".

He and other residents used this to claim plans for dozens of new houses near theirs, south of Houndings Lane in Malkins Bank, should not be built.

Developer Müller Property Group did not respond to requests for a comment.

Two sets of remediation measures at the course have so far been proposed by the council but neither have been carried out.

The first was put on hold in 2020 partly because of the "very high levels of chloride" in the water, while the second had been going through the planning permission process since 2023.

"The council, as landowner, remains engaged with the management of the site and is working with the current occupier to support the safe operation of the facilities," a spokesperson for the authority said.

Karen Mason said she did not believe the authority's assurances that the site was safe and found it "alarming" that it was still open.

With the site remaining operational, Mason said she was concerned about golfers who might not follow the council's recommended precautions.

"Some people still don't realise how bad it is," she said.

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