"Campaigners and locals living near England's biggest illegal waste sites want to know why fire risks at one dump have led to it being cleared at a cost of millions of pounds while others remain untouched."
"They are calling for the release of a fire risk assessment that caused the Environment Agency to decide to clear the Kidlington site in an "exceptional" step costing more than 9m."
"OFRS said the information requested by the BBC contained a "detailed operational fire risk assessment" that contained highly sensitive information including the location of thermal hotspots, detailed analysis of how fires could start and escalate and tactical firefighting considerations. Disclosing the information "would, more likely than not, adversely affect public safety", it said. It added that disclosure would also be "likely to adversely affect the council/OFRS' ability to conduct effective regulatory investigations and enforcement action". It refused to release a redacted version of the assessment, saying that would leave "little or no meaningful information while still posing a residual risk of harm"."
""Local residents are already aware of concerns about the public health, environmental and fire risks of the site, so I cannot understand the reasons why this FOI has been refused.""
Locals near England's largest illegal waste sites question why only the Kidlington dump was cleared following a fire risk assessment. The Environment Agency cleared the 21,000-tonne Kidlington site at a cost exceeding £9m. Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service refused a BBC Freedom of Information request to publish the assessment, citing highly sensitive operational details such as thermal hotspots, ignition and escalation analysis, and tactical firefighting considerations. OFRS said disclosure would likely harm public safety and regulatory investigations. Baroness Sheehan called the refusal extremely disappointing and intends to raise the matter in the House of Lords.
Read at www.bbc.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]