INVESTIGATIONS are continuing into the dumping of waste at a key inner-city brownfield site earmarked for up to 400 homes.

Planners had warned the site of a now-demolished factory in Lidget Green, Bradford, could have been left unsuitable for development after 51,000 tonnes of building waste was dumped there without permission.

Now the Council and the Environment Agency are working with the landowner to make sure the land in Northside Road can be used for housing as planned.

An Environment Agency spokesman said the agency was "continuing to investigate waste disposal activities" on the site.

He said: "Earlier this year we issued an enforcement notice to ensure companies did not deposit more waste, and since then no more waste has been brought onto the site.

"We continue to work with the landowner and Bradford Council regarding contaminated land issues at the site.

"Waste sites of this nature can potentially have a detrimental impact on the local environment – that’s why it is vital that waste operators work within environmental permitting regulations."

A spokesman for Bradford Council added: "The Council continues to work in partnership with the Environment Agency and the landowner to ensure the proper restoration of this brownfield site and to make it available for development in the future."

The contractors working there, Rotherham-based Peakstone Aggregates, said work on-site had actually stopped ahead of enforcement action by the Environment Agency.

Peakstone project manager Andy Jones said: "We ceased the operation before an enforcement notice was issued."

He also said he understood there would be no further action taken against any of the companies involved in the site, although this is expected to be confirmed in the New Year.

The site was formerly a Rentokil Initial factory. It closed in 2008 and was later demolished.

In 2012 it was given outline planning permission, jointly with a neighbouring patch of land, for up to 400 homes.

But last year the Council raised concerns that the site was being used to stockpile construction and demolition waste.

As a result, Peakstone applied for partly-retrospective planning permission for site clearance, remediation and landfill.

This was turned down, with planners saying they were concerned that the land levels had actually risen so high, there was a danger that it would be no longer suitable for development - a claim disputed by Peakstone, which said the levels were similar to where they had been before.

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