MP and council clash over large illegal waste dump

An MP has said Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council has serious questions to answer over a large illegal waste dump.

About 2,500 tonnes of domestic and commercial waste was tipped on borough council-owned land next to the A47 near Hinckley, Leicestershire, in August.

The Liberal Democrat-run authority said serious organised criminals had targeted the site.

However, Dr Luke Evans, Tory MP for Hinckley and Bosworth, has written to council leader Stuart Bray questioning whether officials had done enough to secure the site before the waste was tipped.

Bray told the BBC the council and council taxpayers had been the victims of crime and said Evans was using the situation to "play politics" ahead of local elections in May.

The Environment Agency is leading a criminal investigation to find and prosecute those responsible for the dumping.

"A criminal act does not absolve the council of responsibility for the management of public land or public money," Evans said.

"Local taxpayers rightly expect elected officials at all levels to steward their resources and finances effectively to protect against risk.

"This is a situation that should not have occurred in the first place.

"Clearly the site was not secure and now residents face picking up a massive bill to put things right."

The borough council has set aside £1.3m for continuing security costs at the site and the removal of the waste.

The council said the site, earmarked for a new crematorium development, had been secured but was broken into, leading to the waste being dumped over "one or two nights".

Huw Williams, a Barwell parish councillor, said he reported suspicious activity to the council in August.

"That site wasn't properly protected and I don't believe that amount of waste was left there in just a couple of days," he said.

"It would have taken much longer than that."

The council said it would carry out a full review to "establish the chronology, how access was gained [and] whether further safeguards could reasonably have prevented the incident".

A spokesperson said: "The Environment Agency is leading the investigation into the illegal dumping of waste at this site and has been extremely complimentary about the council's response, including the significant efforts made and the evidence already secured by the council to support its investigation.

"When the incident was reported, it acted immediately to prevent further access and illegal activity."

Both the council and Evans said they had asked the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) for financial aid to help deal with the tip.

The BBC has contacted Defra for comment.

Bray claimed Evans's intervention was politically motivated, adding: "Rather than throwing brickbats at the council, the MP should use his position to do something to help."

An Environment Agency spokesperson said: "We share the public's disgust with criminals who dump untreated waste for profit and understand the concerns that landowners have about their responsibility to clear it.

"We are actively investigating this site and will do everything possible to bring those responsible to justice."

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