Villagers’ anger as firm given green light to resume tipping

An enforcement notice was to have come in force on Monday, which would have prevented any more waste coming onto the site at Leatherdog Lane, which has mushroomed in size.

But this has now been lifted after the operators City Plant Ltd set out plans to move 70,000 cubic metres of waste from overtipped areas to other parts of the landfill site.

Chairman of Newport parish council Roy Hunt said he was “flabbergasted”.

Both the East Riding Council and the Environment Agency have set their own conditions regarding height. The tip is more than twice its council permitted height of 8m. The Environment Agency - which was taking the enforcement action - had set the tip’s “post-settlement” height at 11.5m.

Coun Hunt said: “People round here will be enraged that they have allowed the operators to go on ignoring the planning conditions.

“The enforceable height on the tip as stated by the East Riding Council planning condition is 8m.

“What the Environment Agency has done is they have said provided you bring the height to no more than 3.5m above the enforceable height, ie 11.5m, you can carry on tipping, which is bizarre.

“We believe it is already full by the East Riding Council standards. If the East Riding Council goes and imposes the 8m height limit then what goes on now will have to come off again. The environmental impact of lowering it twice will be huge.

“Will the East Riding Council enforce the 8m limit or are they going to let it drift? There needs to be a stop notice on it now.”

However Howdenshire councillor Paul Robinson said he didn’t think City Plant had won. “They have capitulated to the Environment Agency’s demands to reduce the levels to those stated in the permit.” Coun Robinson said the agreement meant the site would be closed sooner, without the operators having to ferry away thousands of tonnes of waste.

He said: “The compromise here is to come up with a solution that means waste doesn’t have to leave the site because that would be the worst thing ever. If they are now having to fill up the void space with waste that is already on site then it will be closed quicker. It also means that the operators will not be able to bring in as much waste as they would have done.”

He added: “The two regulatory bodies have to learn to work closer when it comes to giving planning consent and environmental permits. In this case they are not in synch, which has caused confusion.”

The Environment Agency said they were enforcing their own permit and their own contractors had “independently verified” that City Plant’s proposals were a “workable” solution.

The Agency said it had served City Plant with a revised enforcement notice, which allows the company to resume taking in waste but stipulating it has to reduce the height of the landfill in certain areas.

Environment Agency regulatory officer Leigh Sayers said it was a “positive” result: “The notice has served its purpose and as a result the company will no longer be prevented from taking in waste.

“It is important that we control the amount of waste at the site and we will be making sure that City Plant Ltd puts its plan in place and complies with its permit.

“Our action has delivered a positive result which could see the site filled earlier than anticipated.”

East Riding Council said: “In view of the Environment Agency’s recent decision, the council is now considering its own position with regard to progressing enforcement action. Further discussions will be taking place with the operator and the Environment Agency to ensure that the action that has now commenced will lead to a satisfactory solution.”

City Plant was unavailable for comment.