The Lancaster City Council leader has praised a ‘cross-party effort’ after more than £750,000 of government cash was secured to help pay for the clean-up operation at the Supa Skips site.
The grant of £764, 916 represents around half of the total bill that the council decided to foot following the devastating blaze that destroyed the building on the Lune Industrial Estate in December.
Lancaster City Council decided to pay the cost of the operation from reserves, in order to expediate the clear up of the privately owned site, and mitigate the environmental impact.
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Writing in his latest Leaders Report ahead of a full council meeting next week, Councillor Black said: ‘’I am delighted to share with members that an exceptional grant from the Government has been given to the council in accordance with Section 31 of the Local Government Finance Act 2003 by the Government.
‘’These funds are support to Lancaster City Council’s response to the waste fire as there was clear partnership advice and agreement to a strategy to tackle the fire and reduce the impacts on public health and sensitive neighbouring natural environment involving demolition and waste removal.
‘’A specific limitation for the grant is that the provided funding is specifically used to meet the incurred demolition and waste removal costs only, with Landfill Tax costs to be met by Lancaster City Council.’’
Councillor Black (pictured below), also added that the authority was now looking at taking steps to take ownership of the site.
‘’Government have also asked, and indeed we were already exploring, that Lancaster City Council take steps to investigate bringing the site into public ownership, recognising that the legal position on site ownership is currently unclear,’’ added Mr Black.
‘’Securing this exceptional funding from the Government is a significant accomplishment for this administration, and for the residents of our district. We have continually taken decisions to tackle this emergency effectively and protect residents, businesses, and the environment from the impact of so much harmful waste burning within the city.
‘’At times this has meant releasing funds from our reserves to act swiftly, even when there has been no statutory responsibility for the council to do so, and no certainty that we would be able to recoup any of this sizeable expenditure.
‘’However, I have always believed that stepping forward and promptly taking action to meet the emergency was the right thing to do. I am delighted that retrospectively, other partners are beginning to help shoulder this financial burden.
In praising the efforts of councillors from across the political spectrum, as well as the MPs for both Lancaster and Morecambe, the leader made it clear that the efforts of everybody concerned contributed to the decision of the funding being awarded.
‘’It is said that success has many fathers, and that is certainly true on this occasion,’’ Mr Black said.
‘’I would like to thank County Councillor Philippa Williamson and the officers of the County Council, local Green ward councillors and David Morris MP for all their support in working towards securing this grant. I would also like to thank Cat Smith MP for her tireless efforts to secure meetings and facilitate agreements with Ministers, and her continued effort to demand accountability from the Environment Agency.
‘’Thanks too to Ministers Hoare and Moore for hearing us out and agreeing the release of funds.
‘’Finally the greatest thanks go to our own chief executive Mark Davies. Throughout this emergency Mark has ensured that the council’s response was rapid and appropriate, helped to coordinate a mulit-agency response, and tenaciously pursued fair and meaningful funding from Government.
‘’Together, Mark and I haven’t taken no for an answer. I’m proud of both what we have done in responding to the emergency, and in ensuring that the impact to our budgets during a Local Government funding crisis has been significantly mitigated.’’
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