WATTLE Grove residents are worried that there may be contaminated soil under the area's basketball court.

Resident Roy Carter said one of the courts had started sinking into the ground and a shallow crater had appeared in half of it.

``It has made the court impossible to play on for the local young people,'' he said.

``What concerns me is that the court's green surface has come off, where the crater is, and the whole thing is falling lower and lower.

``I know that when this area was built a lot of contamination was found in the soil, and I think that's what is coming to the surface now.''

Liverpool Council's general manager, Phil Tolhurst, said: ``This [the soil's movement] could be the result of soil being compacted.''

He said the matter was being investigated by the council.

``We're getting some tests done in the area, but I can't comment on the issue until we get the results back,'' Mr Tolhurst said.

Before Wattle Grove was developed in the mid-1980s the site, Department of Defence land, was used as a shooting range.

However, Mr Tolhurst stressed that ``just because this land was used by the army before its current use for housing doesn't mean anything; all the land we live on had some former use''.

In contrast, Mr Carter argued that lead and other chemicals used in the

weapons tested on the land had been left under the soil of the now mostly residential suburb.

``Defence don't have the best record when it comes to looking after the environment,'' he said.

``It was the Defence Housing Association and Delfin who developed this suburb, with the DHA responsible for de-contaminating it before construction started.''

Menai MP Alison Megarrity said she had

spoken to the policy advisor for Frank Sartor, the Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Water, ``and they assured me that they would thoroughly investigate this situation''.

``There is nothing to be concerned about as yet, but it is important that any suggestion such as this be thoroughly looked into,'' Ms Megarrity said.

Liverpool Councillor Jim McGoldrick said that most importantly locals should not jump to conclusions.

``We need to investigate this and see if there is any truth to these claims,'' Cr McGoldrick said. ``If there is obviously I will be furious because the health of so many local families has been put in danger, but until then there's no need to panic.''

The Department of Defence did not respond to the Champion's enquiries in time for publication.