Fury as council misses tip objection deadline

A furious MP has lashed councillors for missing a crucial deadline to object to a tipping licence at a controversial quarry.

Phil Woolas, MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth, launched his attack in the wake of a public meeting attended by 150 residents concerned about Birks Quarry on the Austerlands-Lees border.

Mr Woolas said he was appalled and amazed that local Liberal Democrat councillors who hosted the meeting had failed to lodge an objection before last Friday evening’s deadline.

Scores of campaigners objected to the Environment Agency about a licence to allow the tipping of 540,000 tons of rubble. The site is on a sharp bend on the steepest part of the A62 Huddersfield Road and only 6ft from the nearest property.

At the meeting, residents had quizzed Oldham’s head of planning, Geoff Willerton, and Bill Darbyshire, general manager of the Environment Agency for Greater Manchester.

Said Mr Woolas: “There were seven councillors at the meeting. But with only one day to go to the deadline, they never revealed Oldham Council had not made any objections to the issuing of this permit to tip.

“This, despite the fact that between 1988 and 1994, the council had vigorously fought four public inquiries and a judicial review at a cost of £250,000 opposing planning permission to tip in this quarry. “

Oldham Council was informed that Royton-based Opengoal, had applied for a tipping permit at the site last July, he said.

Mr Woolas added: “It appears the council’s chief executive, Charlie Parker, very quickly issued instructions to send a holding letter to the Environment Agency requesting they did not issue any permit until the council had taken another legal opinion as to whether there is a valid planning permission for landfill of the Birks Quarry.

“However, by then it was clearly too late for the council to get a political decision and prepare and submit a detailed objection to the tipping permit when there was only minutes to go before the consultation closed.”

Mr Woolas said he would also be asking council leader Howard Sykes to investigate.

Robert Knotts, who has highlighted residents’ concerns about the tip, said: “If the councillors came to the meeting knowing — or not knowing — whether the council had lodged an objection, we should have been told. It’s inexcusable.”

Oldham Council’s Cabinet member for environment and infrastructure, Councillor Mark Alcock, said: “The council put in a holding objection last Friday so that that its own legal team could look at a number of issues related to the application.

“A meeting with the Environment Agency has also been arranged for today so that a range of technical and legal issues can be discussed and clarified.”