SOME sloppy dumping a couple of decades ago has come back to bite Cockburn council on the bum.

As a result of letting an old tip on Rockingham Road spill onto a neighbour’s property in the 1960s, the council must now accept contaminated land for a park that neighbours a new residential development.

It must also fork out $350,000 to remediate the portion that will have houses built on it.

The land, between Healy Road and Rockingham Road in Hamilton Hill, is owned by LandCorp which is planning to develop or on-sell.

LandCorp is required to hand over 10 per cent for public open space, but the council has to overturn its own policy so it can accept the contaminated land, and says it’s too expensive to remediate. The goopy land will be incorporated into the fringe of neighbouring Dixon Reserve.

Council trucks started digging out some of the contaminated soil this week, sparking a flurry of calls to the Herald from locals who thought Main Roads was starting to dig its proposed tunnel under Clontarf Hill, which is right next door.

by STEVE GRANT