Authorities knew of illicit waste site 40 days ago as surrounding neighbourhoods ‘plagued with rats and flies’

MLAs on the floor of the Assembly were told today that people in the densely populated surrounding area have suffered weeks of pest infestations linked to the site.

But when asked why it took so long for clean-up of the site to begin – something which started only after the issue gained significant media attention – the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) gave the News Letter no direct response.

The PSNI confirmed that it is not investigating, saying that the NIEA (a part of Stormont’s agriculture department) is in charge.

NIEA said there was waste at two sites: at Edenderry Industrial Estate off the Crumlin Road, and a smaller site adjacent to the junction of Hillview Road/Crumlin Road.

It also added: “The agency was made aware of the Edenderry site on June 11 and has since has issued a statutory notice to the site operator with direction to clear the site by July 31.

“The agency has been monitoring the situation and not content with the progress, has now engaged directly with the site landowner, who has informed the department they have appointed a contractor to commence work immediately on removal of the wastes from the site.

“This work is expected to commence today [Tuesday].”

It said waste was also to be removed the smaller site by its own contractor today.

Speaking in the Assembly, DUP MLA for the district William Humphrey said: “The communities in Woodvale and mid-Shankill [the surrounding working-class, loyalist-dominated districts] have been plagued by rats and infested with flies and have had to endure dreadful smells over the past number of weeks.”

He said the NIEA were “far too slow to react”, and that assurances had been given that the waste would be removed before the Twelfth.

Instead, further attempts were made on Saturday to dump more material in the area, he said.

Edwin Poots, the DUP minister responsible for waste management, said he had been made aware of the situation on Saturday.

He promised a “robust response” adding: “What has happened is unacceptable. It is not a registered site.

“Consequently, it is an illegal site, so NIEA’s enforcement branch will be tasked with carrying out all the investigations and, on the basis of the information that it finds, with bringing forward a recommendation to the PPS to take the matter to court.”

He also suggested that the closure of recycling centres during lockdown may have been partly a motivation for the illegal dumping, and said that Belfast City Council is putting down bait to deal with the “vermin” problem in the area.

Asked about toughening up the law, Mr Poots responded: “I am certainly happy to look at how we can strengthen laws and ensure that we can have the appropriate responses.

“For example, we still have waste that was dumped here that needs to be repatriated to the Republic of Ireland.

“When I was previously minister, we got an agreement from the then Republic of Ireland minister that waste would be removed from 20 sites.

“I was somewhat surprised, when I came back into office, to discover that waste from only nine or 10 of those sites had been repatriated.”

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