County Councillor for the Chipping Norton Divison, Hilary Biles has backed a campaign organised by propertECO to raise awareness of radon gas within the constituency.
Radon is a naturally occurring gas formed during the decay of uranium in the ground and which can accumulate in buildings. Long-term exposure to elevated levels of radon can lead to lung cancer, but without carrying out special testing it is impossible to know whether a building contains dangerous levels.
Cllr Biles, who is also a Member of West Oxfordshire District Council where she previously spent seven years as Cabinet Member for Health, recently attended an event in Chipping Norton Town Hall that had been organised following a testing programme of over 4000 homes and was delighted to lend her support to the Radon Tee campaign.
In addition to propertECO, who were on hand to offer practical advice on remediation options to residents, representatives from the Health Protection Agency, BRE and West Oxfordshire Environmental Health gave information to residents of the town whose homes had been found to contain elevated levels of the gas.
Cllr Biles said, “We do not wish to frighten people but this is a serious issue and we are endeavouring to encourage residents to have their homes checked to make sure all is well. If monitoring reveals there may be a problem, the experts we have met today can advise on steps that can be taken to reduce radon concentrations within the property”.
The Radon Tee World Trek is an initiative that began in the USA in 2010 thanks to the charity Cancer Survivors Against Radon (CanSAR). Radon specialists, propertECO, brought the campaign to the UK and have been touring the t-shirt at events and seminars to increase social awareness of the second-leading cause of lung cancer. You can follow the progress of the international campaign at www.facebook.com/radontee.
