The leader of a cash-strapped London council has criticised the Government after receiving no funding to clean up Britain’s “largest” former illegal waste dump.
Locals living next to the toxic landfill in Arnold's Field, also known as Launders Lane, have said they feel like “prisoners in their own home” during the summer when the compacted rubbish often causes fires.
The air quality in the area can get so bad that people living around dump, branded the “Rainham Volcano”, cannot open their windows or go into their gardens.
Havering council leader Ray Morgon this week wrote to the Defra Minister, Emma Reynolds, following reports that taxpayer cash had been allocated to clean up three of the worst illegal rubbish dumps in England as part of a national waste crime action plan.
Tips in Wigan, Sheffield and Lancashire, containing a combined 48,000 tonnes of waste, have been earmarked for clearance by the Environment Agency, while a 20,000-tonne site in Kidlington, Oxfordshire, is already being cleared at a cost of over £9 million.
But there has been no Government funding allocated for up to an estimated 80,000 tonnes of rubbish that has been illegal dumped in Launders Lane over a more than 20 year period.
Fire fighters have been called to the east London site more than 150 times over the three years and in October it was officially declared contaminated land.
Mr Morgon said: “Local residents have suffered from years of fires and smoke as the illegal waste combusts in the summer months due to the heat.
“This is privately owned land, but due the inaction of the current landowner, we have had to look at funding solutions to solve this issue, despite being a council that is receiving a government loan for Exceptional Financial Circumstances to balance the budget.”
He added: “It looks like what was dumped on Arnold's Field is more that the total of the ‘three of the worst’ that Defra is providing funding for and way above (more than double) the volume of waste in the Oxfordshire site.”
Mr Morgon has called for an urgent meeting to discuss funding the clean-up.
It comes after the owner of Arnold's Field this week refused permission for Havering town hall to implement its own temporary solution to the fires that hit in the summer.
The council wants to cover hotspots that are most prone to bursting into flames with a cement polymer covering at a cost of about £300,000.
But the local authority claims landowner, Jerry O'Donovan of DMC Services Essex, withheld permission.
Agents acting for Mr O'Donovan have argued that some site work needs planning permission or further environmental assessments and the council has not provided the legal evidence needed to justify the works.
Mr O'Donovan, who was not responsible for the waste dumping on the site, last month told the BBC that he had attempted to gain funding for a clean-up for seven years, but Havering Council had told him there was "no appetite" for his plan.
Deputy council leader Gillian Ford said the town hall had "no choice but to continue to pursue legal action against the landowner” as the only course of action “to solve the Launders Lane crisis”.
"We put forward a practical, temporary solution to help contain the fires this summer and give them time to develop a permanent, long-term solution,” she said.
“We even offered to pay for it.
"And despite this, he's continued to drag his feet at every step of the way and at the eleventh hour has now not given permission for the council to step in to provide a temporary solution to the fires."
Mr O'Donovan has previously argued that a permanent fix would be quicker and cheaper for taxpayers, telling the BBC: "All the money the council has wasted over the last seven years and the £300,000 they are now committing to spending is part of a vanity project.”
A Defra spokesman said Havering council is responsible for regulating the Arnolds Field site.
The illegal dumps earmarked for clearance through the Government’s action plan were selected because they are “high-risk” to the environment and community.
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