AN ACTION team set up to look into the deaths of two Leftwich children from a rare form of leukaemia has released reassuring details of its findings so far.

The team of experts has found the rates of leukaemia in Northwich and across Cheshire appear normal over the past few years.

But further work is being undertaken to examine this in more detail.

Several site visits have been made to the area, the first with outside help from independent environmental consultants, and at this early stage of the investigations nothing has been found that might point to the cause of the leukaemia cases.

However, the investigations on the land will still take time to complete.

Clr Dennis Ford, lead councillor for environmental health at Vale Royal Borough Council, said: "Three rounds of gas monitoring have been carried out. No flammable gas was found within any of the properties. A small trace was found under one property and this is being investigated furhter.

"There is rubble present on the site, but this is not significant. It has been reported that there is a mound at the side of Leftwich Green about 5ft high - this is possibly a pile of waste from the time of construction.A slight solvent odour was detected in a couple of the gardens but overall the sample results did not find anything significant."

Other findings included four readings to monitor radiation which showed levels below the national average.

There are no foot and mouth burial sites near to the Muirfield Homes.

Dr Russell Keenan, from Liverpool's Alder Hey Children's Hospital, said: "The incident team has been liaising with national experts and is following up on any and every lead.

"We have split into three sub-groups to tackle all the relevant issues - including medical factors, the environment and communications.

"We will keep the residents up to date with all our findings."