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If you have just seen Hillhouse on the news and want to know what it means for you, this page is the place to begin. It takes about ten minutes to read. Every figure links to the page on this site that gives its source, so you can check it for yourself.

Hillhouse Watch is independent and volunteer-run. This page is general information, not medical or legal advice.

The short version

  • From the 1950s until 2012, the Hillhouse site made PTFE, the non-stick plastic, using PFOA. PFOA is a “forever chemical”, and in 2023 the World Health Organization’s cancer agency classed it as carcinogenic to humans.
  • PFAS have since been found in soil up to 5 km from the site, in local eggs, in water around the site, and in the blood of the 49 residents who received blood-test results this month. Press reports say most of them were above the threshold at which US guidance advises extra health screening.
  • Official advice covers eggs and allotments within about 1 km of the site. How far the contamination actually reaches has not been established.
  • AGC, the current operator, stopped using PFOA in 2012 and says production at Hillhouse is expected to cease by 31 December 2026. Closing the plant does not remove what is already in the ground.

What are PFAS?

PFAS are a large family of man-made chemicals: somewhere between about 4,700 and more than 10,000 of them, depending on the definition used. They are called “forever chemicals” because they do not break down naturally (What is PFAS).

Two matter most here.

PFOA was used at Hillhouse from the 1950s until 2012. In November 2023 the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified it as Group 1, “carcinogenic to humans”. That describes hazard, not risk: there is enough evidence that PFOA can cause cancer in humans, which is not the same as saying everyone exposed will develop it (What is PFAS).

EEA-NH4 replaced PFOA at Hillhouse in 2012. The Environment Agency’s 2023 assessment estimated that about 800 kg a year of it was being discharged into the River Wyre (HSE consultation). It is newer and far less studied. Its UK supplier classifies it as suspected of harming fertility or unborn children, and in 2026 the Health and Safety Executive consulted on classifying it as toxic to reproduction and a suspected carcinogen. We have not yet recorded the outcome (HSE consultation).

What is Hillhouse, and who are ICI and AGC?

News reports often say “the AGC plant”. The history is longer than one company.

  • Hillhouse is the industrial estate where chemicals have been made since the 1890s. Since 2016 it has been the Hillhouse Technology Enterprise Zone, with several companies on site (Timeline).
  • ICI ran the chemical works for much of the twentieth century, and began making PTFE there with PFOA in the 1950s.
  • AGC Chemicals Europe, part of the Japanese AGC group (formerly Asahi Glass), bought ICI’s fluoropolymers business, including Hillhouse, in 1999. It used PFOA until 2012 and then switched to EEA-NH4. On 14 September 2026 it confirmed it is closing the plant (About).
  • Much of the site’s land was bought by a separate company, NPL Estates, although AGC also describes land it owns there. The permits for the outfall pipes into the Wyre and Royles Brook are held by another, Thornton Facilities Management Limited (The dual permit structure). Victrex, another operator on the estate, shares a discharge point with AGC.

So “who is responsible?” has no simple answer yet. The site has shared drains, a long history, and chemicals that settled from the air over decades (About). No study attributing the contamination to a particular company or period has been published. If the council formally determines contaminated land under Part 2A, it has said it will “identify those responsible and secure remediation” (What To Do).

What has been found, and where

Soil. In the first round of testing in 2024, 187 of 199 soil samples showed raised PFAS, up to 5 km from the site. In the second round, in 2025, it was 287 of 291 (The Numbers). Garden testing followed: 71 gardens were sampled in autumn 2025. PFOA was found in most of them, but most results were below the precautionary screening level. Seven properties were placed in the council’s internal “high risk” category, which is not a legal contaminated-land decision, and in August the council said the Environment Agency’s interpretive report was still awaited (What To Do). At the one garden whose full results are published, PFOA was highest at the deepest point sampled, 60 cm down, and was still rising when sampling stopped (The Numbers).

Eggs. Every egg sample from the four poultry keepers tested had raised PFAS. Since February 2026 the advice has been not to eat eggs from poultry kept within 1 km of the Hillhouse site (What To Do).

Allotments. The Environment Agency has concluded that Occupation Road Allotments (March 2026, based on PFOA in soil and in produce grown there) and Sandringham Avenue Allotments (August 2026) meet the criteria for contaminated land under Part 2A. Both are closed (What To Do).

Water. In sampling on 12 February 2023, researchers measured PFOA at up to 20,624 nanograms per litre in water north of the site, at points including a discharge beside a lagoon identified as a former ICI effluent pit. For scale, the EU drinking water limit is 100 ng/L for 20 PFAS combined. The site’s main permitted outfall measured the lowest of every point sampled, and the researchers suggest a remaining reservoir of historical contamination within the site as a possible explanation (FAQ, Hillylaid Pool). This is surface water, not tap water. Mains water comes from United Utilities, and there is no warning on it.

Air. PFOA has been detected in air samples at Hazelrigg, about 20 km from the site, and independent research has detected EEA-NH4 there too (Common criticisms).

Blood. On 23 September 2026, 49 residents were given results from blood testing arranged by the law firm Leigh Day. As reported, 69.4% were above 20 ng/ml, the level at which US guidance advises additional health screening, and none were below 2 ng/ml. EEA-NH4 was found in the blood of 10 residents. The reports describe these as PFOA levels, but the US bands apply to a combined total of seven PFAS, so the figures may describe that total (Blood test results). In Bentham, North Yorkshire, where residents near another PFAS site were tested, 23% (9 of 39) were above 20 ng/ml (Bentham). The two groups differ in size, in how people came to be tested, and in the source of exposure, so the percentages cannot show which community is more at risk. Both describe the people tested, not everyone living nearby.

A blood result cannot tell you whether PFAS has caused, or will cause, a particular illness. Leigh Day’s fact sheet says so, and so does Lancashire’s Director of Public Health (Common criticisms).

Health. Lancashire’s own kidney cancer assessment found 14 cases in the small area immediately south-east of the site between 2003 and 2022, where about 6 would be expected: a statistically significant excess (Health). It concluded that no further cluster investigation was needed. The public statement also says the environmental data was used “for contextual comparison only and not to assess individual exposure or causation” (No link, never assessed). We do not claim PFAS caused anyone’s illness.

How far does it travel?

The official advice uses a 1 km zone. That zone is not a measured edge of the contamination.

  • Official documents describe it in at least four different ways, such as “within 1km of the Hillhouse site” and “within 1km of Hillhouse Technology Enterprise Zone”. None says what point the kilometre is measured from. In April 2026 the council said verbally that it is measured from the main stack; we have not found that confirmed in writing, and no official map has been published (The 1km zone).
  • Soil testing found raised PFAS up to 5 km from the site, and PFOA has been detected in air about 20 km away.
  • The contamination does not simply fade with distance. The highest reading so far, 181 µg/kg, was about 700 m south-east of the site, higher than the 144 µg/kg peak found at 500 m (Phase 3 results).

PFAS can travel through the air, settling on the ground over decades, and through water: drains, brooks and the Wyre. At several sampling points PFOA increased with depth. That pattern is consistent with contaminated groundwater moving sideways from the site, not only with fallout from the air (The Numbers).

Where are the hotspots?

The Environment Agency’s contractor, WSP, found the highest soil concentrations in two directions from the site: to the south-east and to the west-north-west. The south-east was sampled on a close 50 m grid. Most other areas, including the west-north-west, were sampled at 200 m or more apart, so the picture there is much coarser (Soil sampling density).

If you live outside the 1 km zone, that does not mean your area has been tested in detail.

How much, and how many chemicals?

  • An Environment Agency estimate puts the PFOA released to air and water between the 1950s and 2012 at about 145 tonnes. AGC’s own figures put it at about 103 tonnes. The difference has not been explained in public documents (The Numbers).
  • EEA-NH4 discharges to the River Wyre were estimated at about 800 kg a year in the Environment Agency’s 2023 assessment, from a discharge point with no specific PFAS limit.
  • Testing has focused on a small number of known PFAS. Researchers who screened local water found signs of hundreds of possible PFAS compounds, and the full range of chemicals used on the site over 70-plus years has not been disclosed (The Numbers).

What is the official advice right now?

  • Do not eat eggs from poultry kept within 1 km of the Hillhouse site, and birds kept for egg laying there should not enter the food chain.
  • Both allotments are closed.
  • Wash and peel garden produce, and consider raised beds with fresh soil. Washing cannot remove PFAS that a plant has taken up through its roots (What To Do).
  • The UK Health Security Agency’s advice, unchanged in August 2026, is that gardens can be used as normal: wash hands, and wash and peel produce.
  • There is no warning on tap water.
  • Our FAQ lists milk from local livestock, honey and fish from local waters as not currently tested; we have not found verified published results for them (FAQ).

The advice has changed over time. In July 2024 the council told residents to continue enjoying their gardens as normal. By March 2025 the council’s leader was advising people to consider not eating produce grown in them (What To Do).

What can I do?

  • Leigh Day is the law firm investigating possible legal action. Contact PFASEnquiries@leighday.co.uk or 020 7650 1200. Our Leigh Day page lists what to include. Hillhouse Watch is not connected to Leigh Day.
  • Your GP. If you have health concerns, you may want to speak to your GP. The NHS does not currently offer routine PFAS blood testing, but you can ask for your address and how long you have lived there to be recorded on your medical record (Health).
  • Keep records: where you have lived and when, whether you grow food or keep poultry, and the dates of any letters or advice you receive.
  • Stay in touch: join the Hillhouse Watch group on Facebook, and sign up to Wyre Council’s updates.
  • Your MP: Lorraine Beavers (Blackpool North and Fleetwood) has raised the contamination in Parliament (MP raises Hillhouse in Parliament).

What has not been established

We have not established answers to these questions from the sources available to us:

  • How far the contamination reaches beyond the areas tested.
  • Who is responsible for which part of it.
  • Which PFAS, and how many, were used on the site.
  • What is in the groundwater: AGC says it has commissioned groundwater investigations, but no results have been published. We have not found household dust results, or data from any ongoing PFAS air monitoring around the estate perimeter (The Numbers).
  • Whether other illnesses are more common locally. Kidney cancer is the only condition for which we have found a published small-area study (Health).
  • The outcome of the Health and Safety Executive’s consultation on EEA-NH4, which we have not yet recorded.

We will add answers here as they are published, and say so when they are.

Words you will see

  • µg/kg: micrograms per kilogram, used for soil.
  • ng/L: nanograms per litre, used for water.
  • ng/ml: nanograms per millilitre, used for blood.
  • Part 2A: the legal process for identifying contaminated land. A formal determination can lead to the council identifying those responsible and securing clean-up.
  • EA: the Environment Agency. UKHSA: the UK Health Security Agency. FSA: the Food Standards Agency. WSP: the Environment Agency’s soil-testing contractor. NASEM: the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, whose blood guidance is used because the UK has none.

Where next: FAQ for common questions · The Numbers for every figure and its source · Common criticisms for the comments you will see online · What To Do for the full advice.