The Government has ordered Elmbridge Council to carry out an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for a contaminated piece of land despite officers deciding one was not needed.

The contentious planning application to develop Waterside Drive in Walton into a sports hub finally made it through to approval at full planning on July 14 – but not without a hiccup.

Muriel Bankhead, of Park Road, Sunbury, who lives opposite the site, previously wrote to the council calling for an EIA believing the site should be assessed.

Hotspots of contamination caused the application to stall in July last year and the council investigated at a cost of about £700,000.

It published the hotspots in a report late last year, but in March said there were no immediate health concerns they were aware of.

The following month officers decided an assessment was not required for the land. The Secretary of State has since decided otherwise.

Having heard the EIA was necessary, Ms Bankhead said: “If they had taken account of the reasoned argument put forward, they wouldn’t be in this humiliating and embarrassing position.”

An Elmbridge Council spokesman said: “The Waterside Drive site is the most intensively investigated area of land in the borough.

“We are, of course, fully aware of the contamination levels and we have plans in place to remediate the site including the installation of a permeable reactive barrier and a ‘virtual curtain’ which will deal with the issue of substances leaching into the Thames and will reduce gas migration from the site.

"The construction of the site will ensure that we effectively contain the contamination and that it will be of no risk to public health in the immediate and longer term.”