Corby has been in the news for all the wrong reasons in the past, after children were born with birth defects following the clean-up of a former steelworks by Corby Borough Council.
Now an unrelated contaminated land case has come back to haunt the area.
The Rockingham Castle Estate has been in talks with the county council since 1993 when it first suspected that part of its estate had become polluted by the landfill.
The council has already had to pay out hundreds of thousands of pounds to cover the legal fees of both sides and now claims that the £6m settlement represents ‘value for money’ as it would avoid the costs of a prolonged legal battle.
A statement from the council said: “It was agreed that this financial settlement was the best course of action for the authority and the taxpayer.”
Rockingham has agreed to take no further action.
The estate had been given planning permission to build a business park on the land but work was stalled until the clean-up could be carried out.
The castle itself is used for corporate functions, hospitality and tourist events.
Sam Bond