MP calls on councils to act now and rid town of derelict waste site

I was wrong by approximately 20 minutes.

I believe that the fire was started deliberately and this was why it was contained within one of the derelict buildings on the site.

The buying and selling of waste illegally is a national scandal.

The site on Sandy Lane is one of a number of waste sites across the country that have gone into receivership.

All are identified as fire risks, some have already had huge fires and most are urban based.

The cost of clearing the Worksop site has been estimated at £5 million and last weekend’s fire has probably increased that cost.

I have been pressing the Treasury to take a lead, to provide the finances so that the site can be put to good employment use.

No one wants a waste site in the middle of a town and I call on the County Council to back this by declassifying it as a waste site, removing the waste licence from the site and for Bassetlaw Council to support the initiative by redefining it as employment land.

The Chancellor, in his Autumn budget, will decide whether money will be available if it cannot be found from local sources.

Be it adjoining companies seeking more land, new businesses or car parking for retail or for Worksop Town FC, there are far better uses for this land.

The latest horrific child abuse scandal broke last week with the torture and medical experi-ments on children at Aston Hall in Derbyshire.

One local has already come forward having being forced to go there as a child and, disgracefully ,Nottinghamshire County Council has so far refused to release his files to him.

He has the right to know why he was sent there, who made the decision and why nothing has been done previously about complaints about this institution.

If there are others who went to this or other abusive children’s homes it remains so important that, with a guarantee of confidentiality and anonymity, they come forward.