About Hillhouse Watch

What is this site?

Hillhouse Watch is an independent information resource for residents of Thornton-Cleveleys. It provides documented, verifiable data about PFAS contamination at and around the Hillhouse industrial estate. The site compiles information from official sources, peer-reviewed research, and regulatory documents in an accessible format.

Audience

This site is intended for residents, researchers, and anyone seeking factual information about environmental conditions at the Hillhouse estate and surrounding area.

Independence

Hillhouse Watch is independently maintained. It is not affiliated with any campaign group, political party, government agency or commercial interest, and it receives no funding from, and has no commercial arrangement with, any law firm. The person who runs it is a client of one, as set out below. It receives no funding from organisations, law firms, commercial entities, or campaign groups.

Hillhouse Watch is run by Andrew Molloy, who lives near the site and has a background in materials science research (published papers). He is a client of Leigh Day in its investigation of a possible claim. As a resident of the area under investigation, he could benefit financially if a claim succeeds. Hillhouse Watch itself receives nothing from Leigh Day, is not part of the legal process, and does not give legal advice.

The Hillhouse Industrial Estate: Historical Context

The Hillhouse industrial estate has been an active chemical manufacturing site since the 1950s. Over its history, the site has been operated by multiple companies:

  • ICI (Imperial Chemical Industries): Original operators (1950s-1999). PFOA was used as a processing aid during this period.
  • AGC Chemicals Europe: Operators of the fluoropolymer production facility from 1999. Continued PFOA use until 2012, then switched to EEA-NH4 (a fluorochemical used as a replacement for PFOA in manufacturing). AGC announced a proposal to end production on 13 July 2026 and confirmed the decision on 14 September 2026, with production “expected to cease by 31 December 2026” (AGC Chemicals Europe).
  • Various other tenants: The Hillhouse Technology Enterprise Zone hosts multiple industrial operators.

Attribution complexity: The site has shared drains, a long history, and chemicals that have settled from the air over decades. This makes it hard to pin contamination on a single operator without detailed investigation. Old contamination from the ICI years, activity by current operators, and shared site infrastructure all make it difficult to say exactly who is responsible for what.

What we do know: The most documented source of PFAS data for this site comes from AGC Chemicals Europe’s regulatory submissions, because they have disclosed significant information through Environment Agency permits. This does not mean AGC is necessarily the sole or primary source of all contamination, it means they have provided the most publicly accessible data.

How we work

The aim is to state what the evidence shows, show where it came from, and change the record when better evidence arrives.

  • Primary sources first. Figures link to the document they come from wherever that document is public: the regulator’s report, the permit, the published paper, the company’s own filings. Press reports are labelled as press reports.
  • Measured, reported, estimated, unknown. We keep these apart, and we say what the available documents do not confirm.
  • No source, no claim. A claim we cannot trace to a source comes off the page. It is not softened or hedged.
  • Checked before it goes up. New and changed pages are checked against their sources, and read as someone hostile to them would read them, before they are published.
  • Our errors are public. Every correction is dated and labelled on the changelog, including errors we found ourselves.
  • Confirmations count as much as contradictions. When a public body confirms something, we publish that as prominently as when it contradicts it.
  • Questions on the record. Formal requests are public on WhatDoTheyKnow, with their answers, or the lack of one, on Open questions.

What we draw on: official government reports and regulatory filings; peer-reviewed research; regulatory submissions and public statements from the site’s operators; public health guidance; and environmental monitoring data.

What would change our view: new measurements, a published model, or a document we have not seen. Send it through the contact page and we will check it.

Privacy

This site respects your privacy.

Cloudflare Web Analytics: We use Cloudflare’s built-in analytics which collects anonymous, aggregate data (page views, visitor counts, countries). This does not use cookies, does not track individuals, and no personal data is collected or stored. This runs automatically for all visitors.

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You can change your preference at any time by clearing your browser’s local storage for this site, which will show the consent banner again.

We do not:

  • Collect names, email addresses, or personal information through analytics
  • Share analytics data with any third party (beyond Google’s standard processing)
  • Use analytics for advertising or commercial purposes
  • Track individual users across sessions

Limitations

This site presents publicly available information and does not constitute legal, medical, or financial advice. For specific concerns, consult appropriate professionals.

Attribution of contamination to specific sources requires investigation that, in many cases, has not been conducted. Where this site cites data from a specific company’s regulatory submissions, it states this explicitly. Where contamination has been detected but the source is not confirmed, this is noted.

Contact

Questions, corrections, or additional information from verified sources can be submitted via the contact form at the bottom of any page.

Last updated: September 2026