Waste moved from 40ft pile of rubbish in Brierley Hill
More than 200 tons of waste has been shifted from a towering rubbish mound overlooking homes in Brierley Hill in one week, a court heard.
The Environment Agency is locked in a legal battle with bosses at Refuse Derived Fuel Ltd over the pile, which once topped 40ft. Residents claimed the mound was blighting the area and demanded action from officials for it to be scaled back. RDF had been told to cut the height of the mound to 20ft high at its plant, in Moor Street, by a High Court order.
But the firm, led by directors Robert McNaughton and Sharon McCann, had not met all the targets by this month's deadline.
A survey was carried out at the site on Thursday to establish the height of the pile. The High Court, sitting in Birmingham on Friday, heard the waste ranged from 20ft to 25ft high in places.
Judge Stephen Oliver-Jones QC extended an injunction made on October 19 restricting waste processing on the site.
The defendants were also ordered to clear the waste at the front part of the site to ground level by December 7.
Hearing
This will stay in place until a three-day hearing gets under way on December 10 when the Environment Agency will apply for a mandatory injunction against the defendants, requiring the waste to be cleared back to the level allowed by their permit.
The court will also rule on whether the waste pile breached the terms of RDF's permits, which could lead to the firm being penalised. Since the hearing on October 19, more than 200 tons of waste has been removed by the firm, the court heard.
Mr Dan White, defending, said the recent poor weather had stopped the firm adhering to reduction targets.
