Lancaster Supa Skips blaze: is it time for others to dig deep and put their hands in their pockets asks council

A public survey has been launched and a drop-in session will take place on Thursday February 22 at Lancaster Cricket and Sports Club from 5pm-7pm to gather people’s views on options to clear the site of waste.

It’s in the wake of the fire that started at the Supa Skips site on the Lune Industrial Estate in December and which caused huge plumes of smoke to envelop nearby homes.

To aid the firefighting efforts and resolve the situation for residents and businesses, Lancaster City Council agreed to contribute up to £912,000 to test and clear the waste, meaning the main fire could be extinguished.

However, smaller pockets of fire continue to be found on the site and funding to remove the remaining waste has now run out. To clear the site will require another cash injection, bringing the total bill to around £1.4 million.

This is in addition to the direct costs incurred by the fire service in fighting the blaze.

Due to A1 Supa Skips Ltd being in administration, there is little prospect of the company directly contributing towards the site clearance costs, and to date no funding has been received from any other agency.

The council says this leaves two options:

• Option A: Pause site activity until further funding is secured.
• Option B: Public funding is found to provide the remaining works to clear the waste in full.

Before deciding which option to pursue, the city council wants to hear the views of local people and businesses.

Coun Phillip Black, council leader, said: “The city council has no specific duty to manage this emergency, or spend our reserves dealing with it, but despite this we stepped up to the plate for the sake of residents, businesses, and to protect the environment.

“I believe that was the right thing to do but this meant contributing just shy of £1million to help clear the site of waste, and to finish the job will cost another £450,000. To put that into context, it could add up to approximately 13% of our available unallocated reserves or 7% of our entire net revenue budget for 2023/24.

“Rather than leaving the council to carry the financial can by itself, the question now is do we now say that we’ve done enough and it’s time for others to dig deep and put their hands in their pockets?

“I would encourage people to have their say so we can understand public sentiment on this issue so we can decide what actions to take next.”

You can provide your views by visiting Lancaster.gov.uk/supaskips-survey

A public drop-in session is also being held at Lancaster Cricket and Sports Club on February 22 from 5pm-7pm for people to talk to some of the agencies involved in the response and give their views on the next steps.