A NEW report has been released listing lessons Swindon Borough Council can learn from the collapse of Swindon Skips on Brindley Close.

Last year, the waste disposal firm went into liquidation leaving piles of rubbish at its site on the Cheney Manor Industrial Estate.

As the owner of the land, the council became responsible for clearing up the site, which the Environment Agency estimated would be around £2 million.

Although council chiefs believe the final figure will be much lower, due to its proximity to the neighbouring RDF plant, there has been a cost to the public purse.

In response, a report was commissioned by the Audit Committee to find out what could be learnt to prevent the council being left so exposed in the future.

The review, carried out be an external auditor, did not come to an overall conclusion on what could be done but did say ‘significant improvements’ to the process of dealing with similar situations is needed.

One of the main findings was that the council needs to take a more proactive approach to finding out what is taking place on land it owns, although enforcing of the law is the remit of the EA.

The report says: “In the absence of an environmental waste management register it was not apparent what waste activities are conducted on Council owned land and who is monitoring these sites.

“There is an absence of local and corporate risk and performance reporting and monitoring for environmental risks including waste activities.

“There is also no due diligence process in place to provide an assurance that tenants, that operate waste activities on Council land, are diligently discharging their Environment Agency waste operator licence responsibilities and liabilities.”

The report also asks whether the council should consider not issuing any similar leases in the future and if it does, the process should be carried out with the involvement of all relevant organisations, such as Wiltshire Fire and Rescue.

A closer working relationship with the EA is also needed going forward as while the two organisations work well at senior level, there is little communication on the ground.

“To date, the Council has placed reliance on the Environment Agency as the waste licensing body to be responsible for enforcing the permitted terms and conditions of tenants’ waste licences,” said the report.

“The issue of waste transfer licences by the Environment Agency to operators is not subject to the same financial assurance process that would be required from a waste landfill operator.

“The current arrangements for waste transfer sites do not provide any indemnity or surety to the landowner. The Council is therefore at risk if a waste transfer operator, operating on Council leased land, defaults on their waste licence and/or ceases to trade, which happened in the case of Averies.”