Infamous Brierley Hill rubbish mountain FINALLY coming down
It has dominated the skyline in part of Brierley Hill for seven years but gradually the waste mountain is beginning to reduce in size.
Workers from the Environment Agency have been working hard over the last few months to clear the rubbish that piled up on the former Refuse Derived Fuel site and blighted the lives of residents in Moor Street.
Diggers have been on site clawing away at the rubble, which includes bricks, wood, plastic and building material.
The Environment Agency took action as they believed the rubbish posed a hazard to the public. Workers are around half way through the clean-up project which is expected to be completed in the autumn.
The waste mountain, which once reached 40ft, became a nightmare for residents and led to a legal battle over the former owners' refusal to shift it. Company director Robert McNaughton even served jail term for failing to clean up.
But it now appears the nightmare will soon be at an end.
Brierley Hill councillor Rachel Harris, who led the campaign for the rubbish to be removed, said she was delighted to finally see the rubbish pile reducing.
She said: "I am very pleased and the people are very pleased.
"It's really clear that the owners have stuck to their agreement and things are progressing at the pace we expected them to.
"We have finally won the battle and the rubbish is finally going rapidly."
It is hoped plans to build flats on the RDF site will be resurrected once the rubbish is cleared. A scheme to build two modern housing blocks containing 94 flats were unveiled last year but stalled as a developer could not be attracted over fears they might be landed with the clean-up bill.
