Kirklees Council acts over fires at “illegal” waste dump
There have been complaints about fires on the site, which was previously a car park for the former Bluebell Inn.
A Huddersfield property developer accused of turning a council-owned former car park into an illegal waste tip has been hit with enforcement action.
But Stewart Smith says he will appeal against an abatement notice issued by Kirklees Council.
Mr Smith, who lives in a converted former pub in Taylor Hill, is said to have dumped rubble and household waste on land he leases from the council.
There have also been complaints about fires on the site, which was previously a car park for the former Bluebell Inn.
Residents raised their concerns with ward councillor Andrew Cooper (Green, Newsome), who passed them on to the council.
It reacted by serving Mr Smith with an abatement notice that relates to fires on the land.
A disgruntled Mr Smith said: “I have been slapped with an abatement notice by the council.
“They normally write to you and give you a right to reply, but that hasn’t happened this time.
“I have sent in an appeal.
“I feel as if I am being railroaded by Andrew Cooper and that policy is being abused by his interference.”
He rejected accusations that there had been multiple fires on the land, claiming he had organised a single “controlled burn” of timber.
And he said his immediate neighbours did not have a problem with his use of the land and that describing his fire as a nuisance was “nonsense”. He blamed fly-tippers for dumping household waste.
Clr Cooper said Mr Smith should adhere to the law.
“It is clear that Mr Smith has established an illegal dumping site for his building waste.
“This needs to cease.
“Rules apply to him just as they do for everyone else.
“We don’t want another situation like the Hunter’s site where the council ends up picking up the bill for someone else’s illegal waste dumping.”
Huddersfield-based Hunter Group created an 8,000-tonne mountain of stinking rubbish at Queens Mill Road in Lockwood, which later caught fire.
The site was eventually cleared by Kirklees Council. The cost to council taxpayers was not revealed but it is thought to have been several hundred thousand pounds.