Lead Councillor voices “concerns about the future viability” of Hafod Quarry Landfill site

Wrexham Council’s Lead Member for Environment has written to Welsh Government asking about the future safety and viability of the Hafod Quarry Landfill site.

The Council have given an update on the landfill site which was alight last week for nearly three days, while stressing they have “…no interests in the site either financial or commercial, nor do we use it for any of our household waste.” The Council point out it is privately owned and is regulated by Natural Resources Wales (NRW).

NRW will now, alongside the North Wales Fire and Rescue Service, undertake an investigation into the cause of the fire and to find out if any of the site regulations were broken in any way and will report back once the investigation is complete.

The Council do note, “We do however always have a duty towards all of our residents to protect their health and well-being when an incident such as this happens.”

The Council say, “Bearing in mind this duty and the concerns of the affected residents the Lead Member for Environment and Transport, Cllr David A Bithell, has written to the Welsh Government Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs, Lesley Griffiths, to seek assurances about the safety of the Hafod Quarry Landfill site and what actions or investigations Welsh Government will be undertaking before it is re-opened for future use.”

Cllr Bithell said: “Many residents in the surrounding communities have raised significant concerns about the future safety of the site and are concerned for the well-being of their families and loved ones with the threat of further fire outbreaks at the Hafod site.

“For a number of years Wrexham has successfully introduced waste processing measures that result in only a tiny fraction of our waste (asbestos products in the main) being sent to landfill, and this at a specialist processing facility. Wrexham CBC landfilled 339.29 tonnes last year which was 0.4% of our total overall waste collected of 88,527 tonnes with no waste disposed at Hafod landfill.

“Like many authorities across Wales we are managing waste processing largely without the need for landfill treatments, yet we have a local landfill only metres away from some of our densely populated urban communities. Can I ask for some details of the waste arisings deposited in Hafod over the last 3 month period and also their source.”

“I am sure the Minister will share with me the concerns about the future viability of the site and I look forward to Welsh Government investigations and conclusions prior to the site being permitted to accept further waste for treatment without understanding and implementing appropriate mitigations.”