Lawyers are urging the government not to allow the mistakes that led to a spate of birth abnormalities in the 1980s and 90s to be repeated on Teesside.

A year after the devastating closure of SSI at Redcar, fears are growing that ministers could backtrack on a promise to foot the bill to clean up the 1,400-acre site – leaving a potential health hazard on our doorstep.

Nineteen families won millions of pounds in compensation in 2009 after babies were born with hand and feet defects following the closure of the Corby steelworks in 1980.

Their pregnant mothers had breathed in poisonous fumes as toxic waste was carried across the Northamptonshire town in lorries, ready to be buried.

Lord Michael Heseltine, who was tasked with helping deliver investment to soften the economic impact of the SSI closure, previously said Westminster would underwrite the costs.

“Central government will pay the clean-up costs and underwrite them, whatever the bill comes to,” he said.

But in a new interview broadcast by the BBC this week, the former Deputy Prime Minister appeared to distance himself from his earlier commitment.

A report over a decade ago detailed potentially harmful substances including arsenic and other metals being present at the Teesside site.

Anthony McCarthy, who specialises in helping victims of industrial diseases recover compensation, said it is the government’s responsibility to ensure there is a thorough and professional clean up operation.

“Teesside workers already pay a heavy price in terms of the huge numbers of industrial diseases that we see among the population,” said Mr McCarthy, a director of Macks Solicitors in Middlesbrough.

“It would be unforgivable for the government to simply abandon the Redcar site and allow potentially lethal toxins to leak into the air and surrounding water courses.

“We’ve seen with the tragic experience of the Corby families what can go wrong when this kind of work is not carried out properly.

“The least the government should be doing is keeping its promises to ensure that the entire site is thoroughly decontaminated. Otherwise we are simply handing this problem on for future generations to deal with.”

The situation is further complicated by a legal battle involving three banks in Thailand which lent SSI £350m before the firm’s UK operation folded. It is thought that they will not allow a clean-up to begin until they get their money back. Until the dispute is solved, the site remains under the control of the official receiver.

Redcar MP Anna Turley has raised the subject of the environmental problems the site poses for the area in a series of parliamentary questions.

She is demanding to be updated on government work to determine the public health ramifications of contaminants, how much the clean-up will cost and when it will take place.

She is hoping that Middlesbrough-born business minister Greg Clark will give his support to the area he grew up in.

The SSI Taskforce has just published its One Year On report into the ongoing impact of the closure.

Almost 3,000 people lost their jobs, including many who worked for suppliers. It is believed that 93% of those affected no longer claim benefit, either because they have taken early retirement or found alternative work.

Many local firms have recruited former SSI workers while an estimated 170 have started new businesses.