Cumbrian MPs have met with the Government to urge it to take stronger action over the owners of a county waste site.
Last month, the Government’s Planning Inspectorate upheld the decision to suspend Seletia’s permit to operate the Flusco site in Newbiggin, near Penrith.
The Environment Agency found that the site was at risk of causing pollution as it has exceeded its waste capacity.
The decision means that the site can no longer accept waste until measures have been put in place to prevent overflowing.
Now Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Farron has met with the Minister for Nature, Mary Creagh.
Mr Farron said he pressed the minister to bring in tougher regulation, including treating waste crime as actual crime that the police deal with rather than being left in the hands of more limited agencies like the EA or local councils.
Julie Minns, MP for Carlisle, also attended the meeting. She has a Seletia-owned site, Hespen Wood, in her constituency.
Meanwhile, Mr Farron also raised this on the floor of the House of Commons yesterday.
During DEFRA Questions, he said: “My constituents who live close to the Flusco site in Newbiggin are one of many communities right across the country bearing the brunt of this nationwide scandal. The owners of the site – a legitimate one on paper – have been judged to have flagrantly broken environmental regulations.
“Like many other sites, this one has been ineffectively regulated and poorly policed.
“Residents cannot leave out their washing or let their kids play outside. In this heat especially, the stench can be unbearable, and the leachate and gases utterly intolerable.
“Meanwhile, the country is being ripped off as the Government’s landfill taxes are being flouted to the tune of at least £1 billion every year.
“Will the Government act urgently and powerfully to help my constituents and all those living near landfill sites, which in recent years have become toxic in every sense?”
Mrs Creagh replied: “I was pleased to meet the honourable gentleman and my honourable friend the member for Carlisle to talk about the activities at these waste sites.
“Unpicking the work happening there is a long and complex legal process involving multi-agency and cross-agency working.
“We now have a properly funded waste crime enforcement unit. The funding for that unit was a mere £10 million in 2023-24, but it has had an extra £5 million this year to take it up to £15 million, and then we are doubling it to £30 million.
“That is the way we take these people down.”
