Lancaster councillors to discuss £900k bill for fire at former A1 Supaskips site

It comes as firefighters said this week that the blaze at the former A1 Supaskips site was still being partially extinguished.

Lancaster City Council allocated money in December to get a speedy end to the fire in Port Royal Avenue, connected to the former A1 Supaskips waste business and THINK Skips Ltd, according to a council report.

Now the council’s cabinet is being formally advised of the costs and the current situation. There is uncertainty about who will eventually meet the costs.

The waste store blaze began on December 3 and firefighters believed it had finally ended on December 22.

However, a Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said this week that while the main fire has been extinguished, occasional pockets of deep-seated fire are still being uncovered as waste removal teams continue to work at the site.

The city council’s chief executive Mark Davies quickly allocated cash to tackle the fire in December. The details are now being formally reported to the cabinet, in keeping with council rules.

A report states: “Following the major incident at THINK Skips Ltd, on December 3, a multi-agency response was formed. The main partners were Lancashire Fire Service, the Environment Agency, Lancashire County Council, Lancashire City Council, the police, and the UK Health & Security Agency.

“The chief executive is empowered to authorise any action reasonably necessary to protect the health, safety or welfare of people or the safety of property and he took two urgent decisions.

“The first urgent decision on December 6 was to work with demolition contractors to demolish ancillary buildings, to improved access and reach internal waste, to bring the fire to a swift end.”

These works were capped at £262,000. This was a major incident and a decision to commence managed, partial demolition was needed, the report states.

Then the chief executive took a second urgent decision on December 15. To reduce the ‘significant economic, social and environmental impact’ of the fire, it was decided to authorise the continued use of a demolition contractor as part of the response. This needed an additional contribution of up to £650,000.

Another report regarding the second decision states: “Lancaster City Council does not have any direct responsibility for the site, which is privately owned. The responsibility for this rests with the owners, who are currently in administration.

“The Environment Agency has an ongoing criminal investigation into activities at the site, including the previous operations and waste storage. As a result of this incident, there will be further consequences for the owners.”

Without funding to support clearance work, the city council report says Lancashire firefighters would have reverted to a ‘defensive approach’, meaning the blaze could have lasted for months and further fires could start.

The full cost of the demolition work could reach around £900,000. All avenues to recover the costs will be pursued as a priority, the report adds. The various authorities have discussed funding options and government support has been requested.