The government has announced it will fund the clean-up of three of the ‘most serious illegal waste sites’ in the country.
Together, the three sites in Kent, Surrey, and West Yorkshire contain around 22,000 tonnes of illegally dumped waste.
The Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the sites are a ‘clear sign to communities that politics hasn’t been working for them or their area’.
Burnham visited the Bradford site this week to launch his plans. He told ITV News that waste crime makes people think ‘no one cares’ and ‘the country isn’t working’ .
“The government have been working on this for some time, but what we’ve got now is a coherent plan to tackle this on every level, from fly-tipping in the community right up to illegal waste dumps that we see, and there’s one of them in Bradford,” Burnham said.
The government said the sites were prioritised on scale, risk to nearby communities, environmental damage, and links to persistent non-compliance and organised waste crime.
In March, the government announced it would fund the clearance of some of the country’s ‘most egregious illegal waste sites’.
Environment Agency Chief Executive Phillip Duffy told a House of Lords committee that the government had committed £65m towards the project.
Under environmental regulations, landowners are typically responsible for clearing waste that has been illegally dumped on their site.
The Environment Agency says it always seeks to recover remediation costs from those responsible for dumping waste illegally once they’re prosecuted.
However, the costs of cleaning up tonnes of illegally dumped waste can often run into the millions, which has led to some sites festering for years without being cleared.
The first three sites announced in March included a 25,000-tonne dump in the Prime Minister’s constituency, which is spread across land owned by Wigan Council and the Duchy of Lancaster, the King’s private estate.
Burnham made the site a feature of the Makerfield by-election campaign, which he won earlier this year, by mentioning the dump in the election leaflets.
Speaking during a visit to the site in March when he was Mayor of Greater Manchester, he also criticised the government for not funding the clearance of the site.
Efforts to clear the waste were complicated after it emerged that the dump covers land owned by Wigan Council and the Duchy of Lancaster, the King’s private estate. The council owns around 70% of the land compared to the Duchy’s 30%.
The Duchy, which inherited the land due to an ancient law, said it is exempt from regulatory obligations to clear the site as the estate did not assume any liabilities attached to the property.
During initial discussions around the site, the Duchy offered to transfer the land to Wigan Council; however, the authority said it was ‘unlikely’ the value of the land would surpass the clean-up cost.
The now PM told Channel 4 News that he did not think the offer was an acceptable response and said he believed the King would find the site ‘unacceptable completely given his commitment to the environment’.
Burnham also criticised the ancient bona vacantia law, saying the Duchy should use the money it inherits for a ‘purpose that would really benefit our communities’.
The Cabinet Office and the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra) declined to comment when asked whether Burnham believed the Duchy should fund the clearance of the site.
