Environment Agency could still bring charges over Hunter's tip blaze

Lawyers are still considering legal action over the devastating Hunter’s tip blaze, the Examiner can exclusively reveal.

Exactly a year on from the last court hearing it has been confirmed that the case over the Lockwood waste tip fire has not been dropped.

The abandoned waste site went up in flames in August 2016, leaving a huge problem for the authorities and residents of Huddersfield.

Just a few months earlier Kirklees Council had attempted to get an injunction against then operator Sam Hunter after multiple complaints about skips not being collected.

The fire burned for several days and it was almost nine months before 8,000 tonnes of rotting waste was cleared from the site, close to homes and businesses.

Firefighters made repeated daily visits to the Queens Mill Road site until March 2017.

In July last year Kirklees Council confirmed the clean up had cost taxpayers £1.1m – more than £6 for every Kirklees household.

West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service was unable to recoup a single penny for the 900 hours that its officers spent on the site.

But attempts to prosecute those involved in operating and then abandoning the site have so far failed.

Kirklees Council was forced to drop its case against Sam Hunter, the last permit holder at the waste site, after he disposed of his interests in the Hunter Group firm just two months before the blaze.

In April last year the council said it was seeking a private settlement with Gerald McCullagh, the leaseholder of the part of the land used by Hunter Group, that would remain confidential.

But the council said it had not given up “achieving financial reimbursement or a custodial sentence” for those responsible for the devastating fire and contamination of the land.

Amid a crackdown on rogue waste site operators, the Environment Agency has told the Examiner it has not given up hope of getting some kind of justice over the environmental disaster.

A spokesperson for the Environment Agency said: “As a regulator of the waste industry, the Environment Agency will take firm action against those who are found to have committed waste crimes or breached environmental permitting regulations.

“The Environment Agency is continuing to investigate the activities of the previous permit holder of the waste site known as Hunter’s in Huddersfield and a number of enforcement options are currently being considered in this case.

“While the investigation is still live, we cannot discuss the case in detail for legal reasons.”