Great Heck: Work to clear smelly, smouldering tip to start

Fires have broken out in the huge pile of rotting rubbish

Work to clear more than 10,000 tonnes of smelly, smouldering rubbish from an abandoned tip will begin later.

Environment Agency (EA) contractors will carry out "preparatory work" at the Great Heck site, near Selby, before the clearance work starts on Monday.

They hope to remove the waste responsible for the smell by Christmas.

People living near the North Yorkshire tip have been campaigning to have the site cleared since July, when the firm which used to run it collapsed.

A drop-in session, at which residents can learn more about the removal plans, will be held in the village church hall from 14:00 to 20:00 GMT.

Work to remove the smouldering waste is set to begin after a campaign by nearby residents

An EA spokesman said: "We know that the ongoing issue of waste at this site has caused severe distress and upset and, now that we have a plan and funding in place to start tackling this, we would welcome everyone's thoughts on those proposals.

"Contractors have been appointed and will be on site carrying on preparatory work by the end of this week."

Wagstaff Total Waste Management Ltd, the firm stockpiling mixed recyclable waste at the site, entered voluntary liquidation on 13 July.