King's estate conundrum over future of waste site

A debate surrounding who should clear up a huge illegal waste tip has taken an unusual twist after it emerged the King's Duchy of Lancaster estate partially owns the land.

The site in Bickershaw, Wigan, contains about 25,000 tonnes of illegally-dumped waste and was the scene of a large fire last July.

The land is partly-owned by Wigan Council along with the Duchy, which inherited a third of the plot under an ancient law. Landowners are usually responsible for clearing illegal waste but the law exempts the Duchy from that liability.

Josh Simons, the MP for Makerfield, said the council was willing to pay to clean up its share but is calling on the king's estate to foot part of the bill.

The Duchy said it had contacted the council to seek a resolution and remains "fully committed to working with the local community and relevant agencies to address this issue and to counter the impact of illegal waste tipping".

However, Labour MP Simons said: "Organised criminals have dumped 25,000 tons of waste and Wigan Council, who don't have five or six million quid in their back pocket, are now being asked to pick up the pieces.

"That isn't fair. What I want to see is everyone involved in this - Wigan Council, the Environment Agency and the Duchy of Lancaster - to come together to come up with a solution."

The land was transferred to the Duchy under the ancient "bona vacantia" legal principle which states that if a landowner goes into liquidation or dies without a will within the Duchy's juristiction, ownership defaults to the Duchy.

However, the estate does not have to inherit any liabilities associated with the property.

"The Duchy say because of this special ancient law they don't have a legal responsibility and they're right - but they do have a moral responsibility," Simons said.

The Environment Agency said it was "doing everything in its powers to manage the site in Bickershaw and identify the perpetrators".

It said it had launched a "major criminal investigation and interviewed individuals under caution".

The agency continued: "Waste crime scars our communities, and we're committed to tackling it in Wigan with the local council and the police, as well as across the country."

Meanwhile, residents have to continue living with the dump on their doorsteps.

"It's just creating all sort of problems - rats, flies, smells, maggots," Nicha Rowson said.

"My husband had to take part of the ceiling down to put bait up to try and kill some of the rats off."

She said her son has had to move in with his grandparents because he cannot cope with the smells.

"We spend a lot of time away from the home just to avoid it," she said.

"I don't care who moves it, as long as it gets moved so my family can come back home and we can be together again."

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