An unlawful rubbish dump is set to cost taxpayers “an absolute fortune”, a council chief has confessed, following the approval of over £1million to clean up the site. Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council (HBBC) convened last week in a full council meeting to greenlight the funding.
This will see it fork out up to £1.3m to clear a colossal waste dump on land off the A47 Leicester Road between Hinckley and Earl Shilton. The site had previously been earmarked for a crematorium, but HBBC scrapped those plans and instead intended to sell the land to a developer.
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), the Liberal Democrat leader of HBBC revealed that not a penny had yet been spent on clearing the site as the Environment Agency continues its investigation into the case.
He said: “This isn’t some Jack the Lad dumping a few tyres and a bag of rubbish because they couldn’t get to the tip.”
“This is organised and serious organised crime. They bought tonnes and tonnes of stuff in a couple of nights.
“They brought heavy machinery on the site to break through barriers and move earth. It’s a crime that’s going to cost people. It’s going to cost me, I pay council tax.
“It’s going to cost me, and everybody else, an absolute fortune, and the council is the victim”.
Cllr Bray also mentioned that the council was seeking funding from the Government to help cover the costs of the dump’s clean-up, reports Leicestershire Live.
Originally, the site was promoted as a future crematorium after gaining approval in January 2019.
However, in December of the previous year, councillors decided to ditch the £5m project and instead sell the land to a developer.
The plan hit a snag in 2021 due to “ongoing national issues with obtaining labour and materials”, leading HBBC to abandon the scheme.
Despite this, Cllr Bray informed the LDRS that plans to sell the land to ensure a crematorium would be built were still underway.
He added: “It still is [going to be the site of a crematorium] as far as we’re concerned.
“We were well through a process where that land would have been sold to a crematorium developer.
“That was a decision the council made, and there were several interested people, and they still are interested.
“But obviously, there’s a bump in the road. A very large bump”.
The Environment Agency described the dump to the LDRS as a “sickening case of large-scale illegal waste dumping”.
They added: “Our criminal investigation is ongoing, and with officers attending to assess the types and quantities of waste on site.
“We are working closely with Hinckley and Bosworth Council and other partners to do everything in our power to find those responsible and bring them to justice.”
A spokesperson confirmed that no arrests had yet been made.
A spokesperson for HBBC stated: “We will support the Environment Agency’s investigation and pursue every available route – including the Proceeds of Crime Act – to recover the costs from those responsible rather than taxpayers.
“We will also press for the strongest possible penalties.”