{"id":853,"date":"2026-03-23T07:36:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T08:36:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesssinglesmeet.com\/?p=853"},"modified":"2026-04-10T13:02:55","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T13:02:55","slug":"taxpayers-to-fund-clearance-of-waste-site-on-land-owned-by-king","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/businesssinglesmeet.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/23\/taxpayers-to-fund-clearance-of-waste-site-on-land-owned-by-king\/","title":{"rendered":"Taxpayers to fund clearance of waste site on land owned by King"},"content":{"rendered":"
\u00a0<\/div>\n

\"Bolton<\/h4>\n

The government has announced it will fund the clean-up of three large illegal waste dump, including a site on land owned by the King\u2019s estate.<\/h4>\n

As part of its new waste crime action plan<\/a>, the government promised to fund the clean-up of some of the \u2018most egregious illegal waste sites\u2019 in the country,\u00a0including in\u00a0Wigan,\u00a0Sheffield\u00a0and Lancashire.<\/p>\n

Environment Agency Chief Executive Phillip Duffy told a House of Lords committee that the government has committed \u00a365m towards the clearance of illegal waste sites across the country.<\/p>\n

The dump on Bolton House Road in Bickershaw, Wigan, is spread across land owned by Wigan Council and the Duchy of Lancaster<\/a>, the King\u2019s private estate.<\/p>\n

Under environmental regulations, landowners are typically responsible for clearing waste that has been illegally dumped on their site.<\/p>\n

However, the Duchy, which inherited the land due to an ancient law, said it is exempt from regulatory obligations as the estate did not inherit any liabilities attached to the property.<\/p>\n

The Environment Agency has declared a critical incident at the site, which caught fire last year, forcing nearby businesses and schools to close before going on to burn for ten days.<\/p>\n

The local MP, Josh Simons, has called on the Duchy to\u00a0pay for its share of the clean-up costs<\/a>, and a\u00a0petition calling on the King<\/a> to fund the clearance of the waste site has reached almost 20,000 signatures.<\/p>\n

Now, the government has committed to clearing the site, along with the illegal dumps in Sheffield and Lancashire, at the taxpayer\u2019s expense.<\/p>\n

The decision comes after the Environment Agency and the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra) previously resisted calls to clear the site in Wigan.<\/p>\n

Just two days before the announcement, Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds said the Environment Agency were keeping the site under review but has a \u2018very high bar\u2019 to whether it clears an illegal waste dump.<\/p>\n

Reynolds was being questioned by the House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee, whose Chair, Baroness Sheehan, has been vocal in calling for the Environment Agency to clear the site<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Baroness Sheehan told the committee that \u2018more than one resident was hospitalised\u2019 because of the fumes released when the dump caught fire.<\/p>\n

Reynolds was asked why funding had been made available to clear a large-scale waste site in Kidlington<\/a>, which is set to cost \u00a39 million, and not the dump in Bickershaw.<\/p>\n

She told the committee that there were \u2018differences between the sites\u2019 and said that if the Environment Agency cleared every site, it could create \u2018unintended consequences and perverse incentives\u2019.<\/p>\n

In December, Defra announced it would take the \u2018exceptional decision\u2019 to clear the Kidlington waste dump as the scale of the fire risk set the site apart from other illegal waste sites in England and presented an \u2018overriding public imperative\u2019.<\/p>\n

Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service has refused a Freedom of Information request to release its fire risk assessment report<\/a>, which led to the Environment Agency\u2019s decision to clear the site, citing public safety concerns.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The post Taxpayers to fund clearance of waste site on land owned by King<\/a> appeared first on Circular Online<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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