Environment Agency likely to prosecute over Beenham compost heap fire

A three-week operation got under way last Wednesday to extinguish the remaining third of the smouldering heap, situated on part of a Grundon-owned site at Pip’s Way, leased to the now defunct company Good-2Grow Recycling Ltd,
The fire, which has re-ignited several times, has caused misery to residents, engulfing their homes in acrid smoke and forcing them to say indoors with windows closed.
Good2Grow, whose staff left the site about a year ago, were operating under an EA permit and an agency spokesman, Mark Tucker, said that any court case could take several months.
“I believe there is a case to answer, but we will put that to our legal team and they will make a decision,” said Mr Tucker, who added that, prior to the fire, EA officers had made two visits a year to the site to check permit conditions were being met.
“The site was visited prior to the fire breaking out and the operating company [Grundon] contacted us with a number of concerns,” he said.
West Berkshire Council environmental health officer Paul Anstey said that the council had received about 50 complaints, mostly about the effects and impact of smoke on neighbouring properties in Theale, Beenham and Aldermaston.
“We wrote to Good2Grow’s head office about two weeks ago and served a notice on them about the smoke nuisance,” said Mr Anstey.
Grundon estates director Andrew Short said that the site was leased to Good2Grow in early 2010, but the company left the site around July 2012, leaving an operational headache for Grundon.
“It’s a huge problem,” said Mr Short, pointing out that Grundon had committed manpower and machinery to help firefighters tackle the blaze.
He said that Grundon had not yet considered if the site might be leased for a similar venture in future.
“We are concentrating on putting the fire out.”
The Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service has deployed two fire engines and about 10 firefighters to the operation to tackle the remainder of the 10-metre high heap – initially estimated at around 2,500 tonnes – which brigade area manager Gene Ashe said was proving labour intensive.
“Heavy lifting gear enables crews to lift and lay the material on to the ground and the fire crews then wet it,” he said, adding that one problem for firefighters was that smoke spirals coming from the heap did not indicate the immediate source of the fire.
Although the smoke was from green waste, Mr Ashe warned people with respiratory problems to continue to keep windows closed.