WORRIED residents fear that work to decontaminate a former York gas works could have exposed them to cancer-causing chemicals.

People living around the Heworth Green site have hit out at those responsible for removing "poisoned earth" from the heavily-polluted industrial site.

They claimed that a "cloak of secrecy" has surrounded seven months of clean-up work to prepare the ground for a 148-home development.

But environment watchdogs said that residents have not been put at risk by a complex operation to remove chemicals including tar, cyanide, ammonia and carcinogenic coal naptha.

A public meeting heard that residents have endured several months of strong and unpleasant smells which some believe may be affecting their health. Alastair Robinson, who lives beside the site in Dalguise Grove, said that on one occasion he had been forced to sleep in his car in a road lay-by because of the smell.

He said workers boring holes into the ground had been given respiratory equipment to protect them from toxic fumes, but residents had not been warned of any danger.

He said: "I want to know why residents weren't given the same opportunity to have the same degree of protection. I have to ask if it's carcinogenic or not?"

Resident Francis O'Flynn said the decontamination work was inadequate, and that although many people supported the development, they did not want to be put at risk.

Heworth councillor Viv Kind said: "There's no doubt that the process so far has raised concerns for some residents and one of the reasons I have heard is poor communication."

Developers started clearing the Heworth Green land in April and have already removed three metres of top soil and begun removing tar from the ground by flushing it out with water and chemicals.

The next stage, which could take a further 12 months, will clear ammonia from the ground by turning it into gas and dispersing it or using micro-organisms to "eat" it, creating naturally-occurring nitrates.

Mike Perrin, of Encia, which is responsible for part of the clear-up work, said that when dangerous substances such as coal tar naptha are present, workers at the bore hole are at the highest risk, but the chemical disperses very quickly into the atmosphere.

"By the time you get 20 or 30 metres form the bore hole the dilution effect into the atmosphere is absolutely huge so there should be no risk to residents around the site," he said.

Peter Stevenson, of the Environment Agency, said the "extensive monitoring" of ground water and airborne pollution at the site would continue as work progresses.

Updated: 14:40 Tuesday, November 16, 2004