Taxpayer has paidout £800k to cleanup City Waste site

Environment Minister Mark H. Durkan says “the polluters will be vigorously pursued in order to recover all clean up costs.”

East Londonderry MLA Gregory Campbell asked the Minister about the clean-up costs to date and who was going to pay in the long run.

Mr Durkan said the work was being undertaken by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) on a phased basis.

He stated: “In the past seven months, works at the Campsie site have focussed on removing high risk waste materials on the licenced Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) site in addition to the NIEA undertaking environmental monitoring of the water quality in and around the site.

“Costs incurred to date by the Department of the Environment are in the region of £800K.”

Mr Durkan said that ‘top-class experts’ were advising the NIEA on longer term clean-up options.

“Clean-up decisions will be based on this expert advice which will include detailed estimates of the likely costs and timescale,” he stated.

“We will pursue the polluters vigorously to recover all clean up costs. If we are not wholly successful at that stage I will consider further options,” declared the Minister.