Committee to tackle illegal dump near Londonderry

A DEDICATED council committee has been set up to deal with a huge illegal dump near Londonderry.

The clean-up of the 26 hectare site will now be a permanent fixture on the agenda of Derry and Strabane District Council.

Remedial work to clean up the vast tonnes of illegally dumped waste unearthed in 2012 by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency has stagnated since the Stormont Government collapsed, but initial reports suggest the operation would cost £50m.

The waste includes a toxic lake adjacent to the River Faughan that supplies drinking water to the majority of Derry homes.

People Before Profit councillor Eamonn McCann, who won cross-party support for the call to establish the committee, said: “Continuous scrutiny of this illegal waste site at Mobuoy Road is needed and it is time to get serious about it.

“We have had arguments and debates about Mobuoy dump. We know it is the biggest illegal dump in the whole of Europe which should have startled civic leaders into far more vigorous action than it has so far.

“The magnitude of the cleanup is overwhelming people but are we saying we are going to leave it there because it is so overwhelming? It is cheek by jowl with the River Faughan where Derry gets half of its drinking water.

“We are not expecting miracles but we are expecting this issue to be taken a lot more seriously than it has been.

“But from now on we will have monthly updates on what is or is not being done.”