ENVIRONMENT chiefs are investigating two separate chemical alerts in two days on a contaminated York site.

A pipe containing contaminated groundwater burst on Sunday on the Heworth Green site, and other contaminated material was brought to the surface the following day during the drilling of a borehole.

Resident Sue Wherrett claimed today that she suffered respiratory difficulties and facial irritation following the first incident, after fumes reached her home in Fourth Avenue.

"I was awake for most of the night with really severe breathing problems and very sore eyes," she said.

She said her eldest daughter, who was visiting her at the time, had also experienced throat/breathing problems after the smell from the site had drifted in through the open Velux window.

Sue said she was hypersensitive to pollution, but she had concerns about the long-term health implications for other people living locally, including children.

But the Environment Agency, which was called in on both occasions, said there were no indications that anyone's health had been exposed to danger.

City of York Council said levels of air pollution had been measured and were within the government's acceptable guidelines levels.

Agency officer Peter Stevenson said it had been an "unfortunate coincidence" that the two unrelated problems had come within a day of each other.

Mr Stevenson said he had been called out at lunchtime on Sunday by a member of the public over a pungent odour. The pollution officer found a burst pipe and called in QDS Ltd, the sub-contractors working on site for another company, Encia.

QDS staff attended and had shut the plant down by 3pm. The matter was still being investigated by the agency.

Mr Stevenson said the following day, the agency had been called out again by the same member of the public about another odour.

It emerged the smell came from contaminated material brought to the surface during the digging of a borehole.

The material had been "bagged" to end the odour problem. He said this matter was also being investigated by the council.

Mr Stevenson said the odours would have contained chemical particles, but not sufficient to expose people's health to danger.

A council spokeswoman said its environmental protection unit had been working with the Environment Agency to monitor conditions at the Heworth Green site.

This included overseeing the drilling of a number of bore holes to verify that the land and ground water has been cleaned and meets the necessary specifications for development land.

She said: "Whilst we appreciate that local residents may have some concerns, levels of air pollution during the exercise were measured and were within the Government's acceptable guidelines levels.

"We will continue to work with contractors and the Environment Agency to ensure that all the development requirements are being met."

A QDS spokesman said it was happy with the regulatory role being carried out by the Environment Agency, and declined to comment further.

Updated: 10:45 Thursday, September 08, 2005