WORK has begun on analysing how much it will cost to clear thousands of tonnes of waste at the former Swindon Skips site, at Cheney Manor.

It is estimated that around 11,000 tonnes of rubbish remain and, after the company went into liquidation, responsibility for returning the site back to use falls to Swindon Borough Council as landowner.

The Environment Agency has previously said it could cost up to £2 million to clear but council chiefs believe they do it for much less. It is hoped, because of its proximity to neighbouring waste sites, the costs will be greatly reduced.

Officers have now moved onto the site to make it secure and are looking at exactly what is in the huge piles of waste.

Kevin Burchall, a council spokesman, said: “We have been working closely with the Environment Agency and have taken possession of the Brindley Close site.

“We are currently in the process of making it safe so that we can conduct a thorough analysis of the waste. We can then explore the most cost-effective options for disposing of it.”

Swindon Skips was owned by Lee Averies, who also owned Averies Recycling, based at Marshgate, but both companies have gone into liquidation leaving others to clear up their mess.

The Environment Agency has said it is putting a case together against Lee Averies and will look get as much money back as possible but the clearing of the site is now the job of the council.

A spokesman said: “Swindon Skips Ltd, who operated at the Brindley Close site, is now in liquidation. It is now the landowner’s responsibility to clear the site. The landowner in this case is Swindon Borough Council.

“The Environment Agency continues to work with officers from Swindon Borough Council to resolve the situation.”

Swindon Skips saw a major fire take place in November 2013, while a separate fire burnt for two months over the summer at Averies Recycling.

The second fire is believed to have cost almost half a million pounds of public money to clear up. Firefighters were on site for eight weeks and much of the burnt rubbish had to be taken off-site so the fire could be tackled.

One suggestion was to move it to the former park-and-ride at Groundwell but this was met with such a hostile reception from locals that, in the end, Hills Waste had to take the detritus.

Now the scrutiny committee has set up a cross-party working group to look into the matters surrounding the build-up to the fire, as there had been suggestions too much waste was on the site.

It will be led by Councillor Maureen Penny (Con, Blunsdon and Highworth) and will report back to the committee during a public meeting in several months.

Among the things being considered will be a report by the Local Resilience Forum, which examined the response by certain agencies but is not a public document.