"This decision throws mud in the face of my working-class constituents in Bickershaw, Wigan, but also of people across the country suffering from toxic, illegal dumps that don't have the privilege of living in middle class Oxfordshire. I am so angry about it."
"In Bickershaw, Wigan, criminals dumped the waste in a residential street adjacent to a primary school. During the summer heatwave the rubbish caught fire and burned for nine days, forcing the school to close and residents to stay indoors."
"The EA's policy is to refuse to clear up illegal waste dumps across the country, instead pursuing the perpetrators and landowners. But officials said on Thursday they had taken the exceptional decision to clear up the waste outside Kidlington, which is next to the River Cherwell, because the scale of the fire risk set it apart from other illegal waste dumps in England and presented an overriding public imperative."
The Environment Agency will spend millions to clear an enormous illegal rubbish dump outside Kidlington, Oxfordshire, because the waste is at risk of catching fire. Thousands of tonnes of illegally dumped waste sit next to the River Cherwell, and the cleanup cost will likely run into several millions funded from agency efficiencies and including landfill tax payments. Constituents in Bickershaw, Wigan, have lived beside 25,000 tonnes of toxic rubbish for nearly a year after criminals dumped waste beside a primary school. A summer heatwave caused a nine-day fire that closed the school and forced residents indoors. The agency normally pursues perpetrators and landowners rather than clearing sites, but described the Kidlington site as an exceptional public imperative due to scale and fire risk.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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