ENVIRONMENTAL watchdogs have applied for £10,000 of Government cash to investigate potentially hazardous materials dumped at an illegal tip in Pendle.

The move comes as clean-up campaigners face the problem of who will foot the bill, estimated between £1million to £3million, for the cost of removing waste from the quarry, which has been branded an environmental disaster.

The Environment Agency wants to carry out tests on 50,000 cubic metres of waste dumped over many years at Sansbury Quarry above Colne to find out exactly what is there and how best to clean up the site.

Agency press officer Amanda Coleman said it hoped for a decision within a month and if the application is successful the tests will go ahead in the summer.

"Once the survey is done we can look a what action is needed," she added. "Our priority is to do the best for the area and take up the best option for that site and the environment."

A massive underground fire in 1997 sent a choking cloud of black smoke across parts of Colne and Nelson and sparked a major crackdown on the illegal activities on the site.

Burnley businessman Michael Kokocinski was jailed at Burnley Crown Court for eight months earlier this year for allowing illegal dumping at the site. The court was told Mr Kokocinski had lost his business, his home and everything he had worked for.

Stuart Arnott, principal environmental health officer at Pendle Council, explained: "It should be Mr Kokocinski as the polluter who should be held responsible for the costs. But we operate in the real world and if he doesn't have the required funding it has to be found from other sources."

Mr Arnott said Pendle was waiting for Government guidance on the latest environmental legislation which will switch the enforcement role from the Environment Agency to local councils.

"Until we have a clear picture on what our role will be and any increase in Government funding to tackle situations like this it is difficult to say what will happen," he said. "Under the legislation our first duty is to have informal talks with the landowner to try and reach an agreement but in Mr Kokocinski's case the chances of that are remote.

"The next step would be to serve a legal notice on the owner to clean up the land and if they do not the council can go in, do the work and charge the owner or put a charge on the land. But the chances are the council would be left to foot a very substantial bill and this where we would be expecting help from the Government."

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