ALLOTMENT holders in a storm over a toxic ash scare have been offered a payout of £25,000.
Newcastle City Council made the offer at a meeting attended by hundreds of plot holders affected by contamination from the Byker incinerator in the city.
The cash is intended to compensate gardeners for disturbance caused when hundreds of tonnes of ash were removed after it was found to contain dioxins.
Dr Tricia Cresswell, of Newcastle and North Tyneside Health Authority, said "worryingly" high levels of lead had been found.
But the levels of dioxins, which are linked to cancers, were "not alarming".
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