Council to probe illegal dumping

Council to probe illegal dumping

4 January 2012

Down Council is to debate the removal of almost 2,000 tonnes of illegally dumped waste outside Downpatrick which recently led to a Killyleagh farmer being fined £20,000.

At today’s meeting of the council’s Environment Committee, councillor Cadogan Enright is to call on the Department for the Environment and Down Council to force those liable to remove the waste, which included material from the

old Downe Hospital, as a matter of urgency.

Former head of the Ulster Farmer’s Union, Graham Furey, of Comber Road, Killyleagh, was fined £20,000 at Downpatrick Crown Court last month. He admitted four waste management charges at the Ballyhornan Road site, which took place between 2003 and 2008.

Co-accused skip-hire operator Samuel Elvis Kirk (52), of Crossgar Road, Killyleagh, was fined £1,500.

The Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) said the buried waste included metal drums, lockers, a hydraulic bed frame, hazardous oil and tar, electrical wiring, radiators and treated wood.

Councillor Enright, who campaigned for prosecutions to be brought in the case, warned that such dumping had the potential to damage surface and ground water, claiming that Struell Wells could be affected.

Welcoming the conviction, he said he believed it was “very rare” for government bodies to pursue such cases through the courts.

“It is now up to the department and the council to ensure this waste is disposed of safely,” he said. “The council has a real responsibility, even if they are not at fault, and I will be raising this issue at today’s committee meeting.

“Government bodies also need to keep a close eye on who they employ for the removal of waste.”

Local MLA Jim Wells agreed that Down Council should order those responsible for the dumping to remove all of the waste to a licensed site for processing.

“The full cost of this work must be borne by those who put the waste there in the first place,” he said. “I strongly believe that Down Council has an opportunity to send out a very strong signal which will act as a deterrent to anyone considering illegal dumping anywhere in Northern Ireland in the future’.

Friends of the Earth campaigner, Declan Allison said the waste at Ballyhornan Road will continue to pollute for up to 50 years.

“In the absence of an independent environmental regulator, the responsibility falls on the judiciary to pass strict sentences that will deter others from repeating this type of offence,” he said.