Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the Government's potential liabilities in the event that fire occurs at the Crown Estate site in Worksop previously occupied by Trent Valley Recycling.
Answered on
20 February 2017
The Environment Agency is currently pursuing the former owners and operators of the Trent Valley Recycling (TVR) site and all those connected for offences under the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2010.
The Environment Agency has been working with partners from the Nottinghamshire Local Resilience Forum (LRF) to identify the risks associated with the site. The main risk to the public is the potential for the abandoned waste on site to catch fire. There is a low risk of this waste self-combusting, but there is a risk of someone gaining access to the site and deliberately setting fire to the waste which could result in a major fire. The site, however, is fenced off and the entrance secured.
Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service has produced a tactical fire plan for the site, outlining the steps they would take in such an event. All partners have contributed to this plan and a Tactical Liaison Group will be established in the event of a major fire.
The Local Resilience Forum has estimated that a major fire at the site is likely to last a number of weeks. A fire at a similar site in north Nottinghamshire in October 2016 required a fire service presence for 6 weeks and cost in the region of £1.5 million. Other partners in the LRF would have costs associated with tackling a major fire also.