It has taken ten years, but this week two men are finally due to be sentenced for their part in the largest ever illegal dump found in Northern Ireland. In June 2013, the then Environment Minister Alex Attwood held a press conference in Derry at which he revealed the shocking details of a massive illegal dump uncovered in a rural area on the outskirts of the city.
r Attwood described it at the time as one of the largest illegal dumps ever found in Europe. However, as he spoke, it was still unclear just how bad the situation was.
Initial estimates were around 500,000 tonnes of waste had been dumped at the Mobuoy Road site — but further investigations have pushed that estimate up to around a million tonnes.
It is an environmental disaster on a colossal scale but bringing those responsible to justice has been a slow process.
The investigation into the circumstances around the illegal dump has also revealed there were many warning signs which could have resulted in it being found much earlier.
The dumping took place on separate plots of land managed by two companies, City & Industrial Waste Ltd (CIW) and Campsie Sand and Gravel Ltd (CSG).
Derry City Council had operated a landfill site at Mobuoy from 1980, but in 1996 CIW was granted a waste disposal licence to operate on the site, which authorised the deposit, transfer or disposal of specified materials to the landfill.
Adjacent to the landfill site, a sand and gravel business owned and operated by CSG had been in operation since 1993. By 2004, CIW had created a licensed Materials Recycling Facility (MRF) at Mobuoy which received huge amounts of materials from the local council’s recycling plants. However, much of this material, which was supposed to be recycled, ended up being dumped illegally.
The dumping of the waste took place on and around the MRF facility but mainly occurred in a series of sand and gravel workings excavated by CSG.
Tests showed a large amount of the waste was made of construction material, with many other types of rubbish mixed in.
In 2013, after making details of the illegal dumping at Mobuoy public, Mr Attwood commissioned former Welsh Environment Agency director Chris Mills to carry out a report into the matter.
In his findings, Mr Mills said the situation at Mobuoy was “on a scale not previously encountered”.
In 2003, responsibility for regulation of waste transfer and disposal in Northern Ireland had transferred from local councils to the Department of the Environment (DoE).
However, despite a number of complaints being made about what was allegedly happening at the Mobuoy site, there was, according to the Mills report, a “lack of clarity of responsibility” which allowed the illegal dumping to continue for so long.
“A key issue being that Campsie Sand & Gravel was able to dig extensive pits without first obtaining planning permission and then to apply for retrospective permission. The ability to do this provided the receptacles which enabled the subsequent illegal dumping of the waste in such a vast quantity,” the report stated.
Mills also uncovered a series of missed opportunities to reveal the extent of the illegal dumping.
In December 2007, a complaint was made to Derry City Council and passed to the DoE about “noxious smells” at the Mobuoy site.
An officer from the DoE’s Environmental Crime Unit (ECU) visited the site and a further site visit was made in April 2008.
Two gas tests were carried out in an area outside the licensed site where subsequently waste was found to have been illegally dumped. The readings were high and, in the opinion of the officer concerned, confirmed the presence of landfill gas which it was concluded could only be caused by degrading organic material.
The officer brought this matter to the attention of his line manager and recalls suggesting an intrusive survey. However, for reasons unknown to the officer, the investigation was not progressed beyond this initial site investigation.
In December 2008, the Loughs Agency, which is responsible for local waterways, wrote to the DoE to pass on the concern of the River Faughan Anglers’ Association that there was “the possibility of some material outside of the disposal category which may be being shredded and disposed” at the Mobuoy site. The River Faughan, which runs adjacent to the Mobuoy land, is a popular fishing location and also supplies drinking water to Derry city.
However, a further letter from the Loughs Agency dated April 27, 2009, stated “it would appear that the agency did not receive a response” to its correspondence the previous year.
The DoE has since insisted regular testing has shown no contamination of the River Faughan from the Mobuoy land.
The Mills report also found a “long history of non-compliances and enforcement action” at the Mobuoy site in relation to planning laws.
It appears it was not until 2012 the concerns about the site were taken much more seriously. Following more complaints, ECU officers carried out intrusive inspections between June and August 2012 of a sand and gravel quarry run by CSG.
The searches found a large amount of waste, including plastics and other degradable material, mixed in with sand, stone and gravel. The officers also saw gas bubbling up through areas on the site covered by water and significant quantities of contaminated liquid were found in a number of the other pits.
Realising the seriousness of the situation, the DoE called in the PSNI and Operation Sycamore was launched. In November 2012, two people were arrested and questioned, premises were searched and a quantity of material was seized.
It was to be another six months before the scale of the illegal dumping uncovered at Mobuoy was made public.
To date, none of the waste has been removed from the site.
The Sunday Independent last week asked the Department of Agriculture. Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA), which replaced the DoE in 2016, how much had been spent on managing the site since the discovery of the illegal dump. However, the department did not respond to this and a series of other questions in connection with the Mobuoy site.
A long-awaited remediation plan to repair the damage caused by the illegal dumping is being finalised. The cost is expected to be huge.
It is understood the efforts to decide what to do with the Mobuoy land has been unable to progress as quickly as had been hoped because of the long-running criminal case.
A DAERA spokesman said: “Illegal dumping, especially of this magnitude, shows a shocking and appalling disregard for the residents, the environment and the law.
“Following the conclusion of the court proceedings, the department will be in a position to move forward with its development of a remediation strategy to ensure that the legacy of this site is a positive one for future generations.”
On September 9 last, Paul Doherty (64), a director of Campsie Sand and Gravel Ltd, from Culmore Road in Derry, pleaded guilty to seven waste offences with regards to controlled waste identified on lands located on the Mobuoy site.
A week later, Gerry Farmer (53), a director of City Industrial Waste Ltd, of Westlake in Derry, pleaded guilty to three waste offences at the same location.
The two men are due to be sentenced at Laganside Court in Belfast on Tuesday.