Council claws back Government cash to halve £1.4m Lancaster Supa Skips fire bill

The money has been provided in an exceptional grant from the Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and will be used to meet costs incurred by the council to demolish buildings and remove waste as part of the firefighting efforts.

The grant is approximately half of the total spent by the council in dealing with the emergency since the fire started in December.

Mark Davies, chief executive of Lancaster City Council, said: “The city council recognised at an early stage that although it had no statutory duty to do so, it needed to step up and support the fire service in ensuring the emergency was dealt with quickly and effectively.

“This meant using some of the council’s reserves to pay for the demolition of some of the buildings that were hampering the firefighting efforts, along with removal of much of the waste that was providing fuel for the fire.

“The clear message from residents was that for their own health and wellbeing the immediate danger from the fire and the smoke it produced needed to be removed, but that they also did not expect the council to pick up the bill alone.

“Through the concerted efforts of the city council, county council, partner agencies and our MPs, we have been able to recoup around half of the overall costs through a one-off grant from the Government.”

Lancaster’s Labour MP Cat Smith quizzed the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in Parliament in December, and months of negotiations later, the Government have reimbursed nearly half the £1.5m costs which the council have spent from reserves to tackle the fallout at the site.

Ms Smith said: “It shouldn’t take pressure on the Prime Minister to get funding for a public health emergency and environmental disaster.

“With massive cuts to local council budgets over the past 14 years, the burden of the clean-up costs of the fire should not fall to local residents.

"Awarding exceptional funds is the right thing to do and I'm pleased we've been successful in pushing the Government into action.”