Arnolds Field: Illegal dump owners say clean-up plan blocked

A fire in Arnold Field covered an area of about two hectares (five acres) in 2019

Owners of an illegal dump that burns fires affecting nearby residents in east London says a council is "blocking" efforts to clean it up.

Fires at Arnolds Field, Rainham, have led to fears among locals they are being exposed to harmful gases.

Landowner DMC Essex says it has been negotiating the land's development since buying it in 2017.

Havering Council says it cannot progress plans because it has not received full remediation plans.

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The site is filled with about 40,000 cubic metres of unregulated waste sitting the equivalent of two stories high.

A planning agent for DMC Essex businessmen Jeremiah O'Donovan and Finbarr McMachon told a residents' meeting last week that they were offering to process the landfill materials on site and remove "dangerous wastes" such as gas cylinders before covering it with a "restoration layer" of soil.

Local residents have been warned by the fire service to keep windows and doors closed when fires are ablaze

In exchange, they are asking for planning permission to use 20-25% of the site, which is on protected green belt land, for storing industrial machinery.

The agent said: "Everything we ask for is just getting batted back, we're just getting nowhere with it and [Havering Council] are asking for stuff we don't know at this stage, so they're blocking us.

"We're just trying to find a solution that works for everybody but are just getting nowhere with it."

Rainham Against Pollution steering group member Mark Wheatley called on Havering Council to urgently "get around the table" with the landowner.

'Living on throat lozenges'

He said: "The news is saying it's going to be the hottest summer, people are actually scared for their lives, I live the furthest away from the site and I'm living on throat lozenges."

In response to growing alarm about the health impacts of the fires, Havering Council launched a year-long air quality study last summer but is yet to enter the site to analyse what materials are burning.

The businessmen also said relocating from their company's current base at a "small yard" on green belt land nearby at Greenacres Trading Estate, Aveley Road, in Upminster, would provide "further public benefit".

A spokesperson for Havering Council, said: "We have been engaging with the owner who has as yet not put in a formal planning application for the site. Pre-application conversations have taken place and the owner has not yet presented full details of the condition of the site and remediation plans, as part of this, to make the land safe.

"It is important to note that this is green belt and any plans for development on this land need to take this into account. We will however continue to speak to the owner so that the best outcomes are reached for residents."

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