PLANS to save a popular riding centre, threatened with demolition, could have been dashed after it was revealed no tests have been carried out to establish whether its new home is contaminated land.
 

In February this year the Echo told how the Longwood Equestrian Centre in Dry Street, Basildon appeared to have been saved by bulldozers after Basildon Council offered its owners a new home near Wat Tyler Country Park in Pitsea.
 

The horse riding centre was likely to have been demolished under plans to build 725 homes on the land.
 

But now campaigners say the land at Pitsea Creek, which used to be a rubbish tip until it closed in 1987 and was covered over, is believed not to have been surveyed since and could be contaminated with harmful materials.
 

Danny Lovey, of the Basildon Green Action Group, said he corresponded with Basildon Council and the Environment Agency and neither could say when the land was surveyed and if it was contaminated by any harmful materials.
 

Mr Lovey said: “In February when Basildon Council announced that Longwood Equestrian Centre had been offered Watt Tyler Way rubbish tip as a relocation site, I was sceptical about its suitability for various reasons not least about the status of the land with regard to location, stability, contamination and methane etc
 

“However, what I was not expecting was that Basildon Council did not have a clue about the site’s condition.
 

“What shocks me is that Basildon Council, in the knowledge that there had not been any site surveys at all, have been irresponsible and cynically offered a site in order to try to shut up protesters and maybe give false hope.
 

“The best deal for Longwood is that it stays where it is and has the benefit of a long term lease and the continuing use of all the 20 odd miles bridle ways around Langdon Hills.”
 

Ian Lewington, the owner of the Longwood Equestrian Centre, was unavailable to comment but has previously expressed delight at his centre being found a new home.