'No timeline or cost' for illegal dump clean-up plan

There is still no timeline, cost estimate or guarantee of the money needed, for the clean-up one of Europe's largest illegal landfill sites, politicians have said.

The contaminated Mobuoy dump at Campsie in County Londonderry, discovered in 2013, was used to bury thousands of tonnes of rubbish at a site spanning more than 100 acres.

Last year, two businessmen were jailed for their part in the operation.

Environment Minister Andrew Muir recently met local politicians to update them on the planned remediation of the site but SDLP MLA Mark H Durkan, a former environment minister, said he was "disappointed" by the lack of new information.

"We have no estimated cost, no estimated timeline and there is no guarantee that this work is going to be done," Durkan said.

The figure for the potential repair bill is contained in 2022/23 accounts from the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera), which were published in February 2024.

At the time, officials estimated cost the cost at between £17m and £700m - however, that top figure would only apply if all of the waste was dug up and transported elsewhere, which is not what Daera is planning to do.

However, that £107m figure is a "point in time" estimate, which is likely to rise the longer it takes to finalise the proposals and put them into action.

Durkan said: "I'm not laying the blame at the minister's door, I do think they have been pretty proactive and are keen to get this done."

Investigations at the Mobuoy site indicate an estimated 1.6m tonnes of waste was present at the site and 627,000 tonnes of that was believed to have been dumped illegally.

The area of polluted ground stretches to about 100 acres, or the equivalent of about 65-70 football pitches.

Durkan said the longer the delay to the required work, the greater the risk posed by the site.

"The cost is only going to go up but more significantly than that the risk is also going to increase," he said.

"It was reassuring and there's always reassuring to hear from Northern Ireland Water and the Environment Agency about the extensive monitoring of the water on that site and suppose of the absence of a risk to the safety of drinking water… but the longer it's left that risk's only going to go one way and that's up."

Sinn Féin MLA Ciara Ferguson, who also attended Friday's meeting, said that cost estimate was the "critical" next step in the process.

"They need to ensure that it's evidence based and is robust," she told BBC Radio Foyle.

She said no formal bid for funding could be made until that estimate is completed.

"They would hope to have that complete by the summer and submit it to the minister," Ferguson said.

Speaking after Friday's meeting Muir said it had been a " constructive engagement" and followed a public consultation on the site's remediation.

"I remain eager to progress the plans for remediation and can confirm we will now be moving towards adoption of the final remediation strategy including obtaining an updated cost estimate for delivery of the remediation," Muir said.

"This will then enable us to develop and put forward a formal business case in relation to remediation works as per required processes."