Katie Simpson, Northampton Socialist Party
Toxic Town is a four-part Netflix docuseries telling the true story of how Corby, a town in Northamptonshire, was contaminated with toxic fumes between 1985 and 1997. The compelling series details how multiple children were born with birth defects as a direct result of toxic waste from a former steelworks site.
We meet a group of mothers in their dogged pursuit of justice for their children born with physical differences. Jodie Whittaker plays the main character Susan McIntyre, a fiery and tenacious mother of two who ends up raising her sons alone due to the father’s unwillingness to accept his youngest son having a defective hand. The show deals with discrimination bluntly, depicting how children with physical disabilities and differences were often bullied and their mothers blamed for their birth defects.
A particularly harrowing story in the series is that of Tracey Taylor, whose daughter Shelby Anne died just four days after she was born with internal defects including in her heart. Shelby Anne’s case was not able to go to trial as she was seen as a statistical anomaly. In spite of this, Tracey, in solidarity with the other parents fighting for justice, took to the stand to give evidence in the trial.
We are also introduced to councillors and council workers coming into conflict over the actions of the company contracted to dispose of toxic waste. The first episode opens with a gritty picture of the lack of safety protocols in place at the old steelworks and the hazardous nature of disposal. A young council worker who tries to raise concerns about the risks is ignored with attempts of both threats and bribery. We learn that the council worker’s father was also suffering the consequences of having worked in the steel industry. This appears to motivate the young council worker to save and leak documents showing corruption by the council before he’s fired. There are other examples in the show of how people’s own circumstances motivate them to take on Corby Borough Council.
‘Working-class credentials’
We meet Roy Thomas, the deputy council leader, who is fictional but representative of a clique of councillors who, at the time, had financial incentives to turn a blind eye to the toxic waste polluting the community. One Labour councillor is pushed out of the party for trying to challenge corruption. He decides to run as an independent and in one scene describes how his former Labour colleagues are “using their working-class credentials slung across their middle like a belt but they’ve become the abusers.” This quote rings true of Labour politicians today and goes a long way to explain why several ex-Labour councillors are running as independents, including in Northamptonshire.
What makes Toxic Town truly binge-watchable is the courage of council whistleblowers but even more so the courage of stigmatised mothers taking legal action with the help of a dedicated lawyer who ended up using his own money to fund the case as legal aid was shockingly denied by the council.
While obviously dramatised, the show does a brilliant job of depicting the depth of New Labour’s corruption within Corby council at that time and the courageous pursuit for justice that was fought and won by the victims of the toxic waste fumes. The show concludes with a disturbing truth, that Corby was not alone. Numerous sites around the UK have allowed pollutants to become airborne or be improperly disposed of, including under grounds where schools have been built.
A council’s number one priority should be the safety and wellbeing of its people. We are made painfully aware in Toxic Town that this wasn’t the case in Corby under the Labour leadership. But we know it would have been no safer under the Tories. Corby, like every town and city, deserves fighting socialist councillors who will put the needs of ordinary people at the forefront of everything they do. The Socialist Party is standing five Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) candidates in Northamptonshire’s upcoming council elections.
