Members of the public are being encouraged to contact their local councillors asking that they keep the pressure on the public authorities with the powers to address the ‘environmental calamity’ of festering waste on the former MOD site near Dunfermline.
Alex Rowley MSP met with representatives of SEPA to discuss the ongoing efforts to address the issue and said it is important to keep the pressure on the public authorities and the Government to get the site cleaned up.
Mr Rowley said:
“SEPA continue to look at the legal options available to them to force action but I have to say after years of being told we had to wait on the legal process completing and the prosecution of the company Directors who operated the site before action could be taken I am not filled with confidence that another drawn out legal process will work.
“I accept the point that the tax payer should not have to pick up the bill but I have asked for more work to be done on all the options available. I am also asking what is the weakness in the law that has allowed this to happen so that it can be address through legislation if necessary.
“SEPA have confirmed that they are working with Fife Council and are focussing on the ownership of the commerce park. They have further agreed to look at the options for recycling the materials on the site as the greatest cost of any clean up would be the landfill taxes that would be incurred.
“I have been speaking with a company who specialise in recycling and we now need to establish what can be recycled. SEPA have agreed to examine this further and deal direct with this and any other specialist company to establish the options and we will meet again in six weeks to review those options.
“I have also asked SEPA to make available the environmental and pollution studies they have carried out on the site and I am attempting to make direct contact with the owners of the site. Fife Council have said that Officers from Safer Communities have recently again surveyed the site at Lathalmond, including checking monitoring boxes and have confirmed there is no evidence of vermin activity. I am asking them to provide more detail of the survey so that the risk of vermin can be accurately assessed.”
He concluded:
“Progress on this matter has been slow and we really need to find a way forward and I do hope all elected politicians will unite to keep the pressure on the public authorities. This is an environmental calamity that must be sorted and I do hope we can come back to the table in six weeks and see real progress on this unacceptable situation”.
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