The Leader of Havering Council has written to the Defra Minister, Emma Reynolds MP, after Havering missed out on funding the clean-up of illegal waste dumps.
It follows reports in the media claimed Defra will fund the clean-up of illegal waste dumps in Wigan, Sheffield and Lancashire, together containing 48,000 tonnes of waste.
The report also says a 20,000 tonne site in Kidlington, Oxfordshire, is already being cleared at a cost of more than £9m.
In his letter the Council Leader said that Havering was disappointed that the site at Arnold’s Field (also known as Launders Lane) in Rainham, was not included.
He went on to say:
Local residents have suffered from years of fires and smoke as the illegal waste combusts in the summer months due to the heat.
This is privately owned land, but due the inaction of the current landowner, we have had to look at funding solutions to solve this issue, despite being a council that is receiving a government loan for Exceptional Financial Circumstances to balance the budget.
When comparing with the reported sites, we have done some calculations.
In the BBC online report it says: the "three of the worst illegal rubbish dumps in England", "representing the most egregious cases" are "huge tips in Wigan, Sheffield and Lancashire, together containing 48,000 tonnes of waste" and a "20,000-tonne site in Kidlington".
However, the Environment Agency had already estimated (in response to an FOI) that 30,000 to 50,000 cubic metres of illegal waste was dumped at Arnold's Field between 2011 and 2014 alone.
A cubic metre of dry, loose soil is around 1 tonne and heavy/compacted clay soil would be around 1.6 tonnes.
So, using "soil" as a parameter for "waste", the 30,000-50,000m3 volume of waste could have a weight somewhere in the region of 30,000 tonnes to 80,000 tonnes, and that is just from that three year period: the total of the unlawful dumping could well be notably more.
To be cautious, we have used a modest mid-point figure of 50,000 tonnes as the overall estimated weight of fly-tipping on the site.
Consequently, it looks like what was dumped on Arnold's Field is more that the total of the "three of the worst" that Defra is providing funding for and way above (more than double) the volume of waste in the Oxfordshire site.
We therefore call for an urgent meeting to discuss rectifying this oversight and funding the clean-up of Launders Lane so residents no longer suffer.