AN MP has praised the ‘behind the scenes work’ of a council to tackle an illegal waste site.

MP Graham Jones said a vast amount of planning from Hyndburn Council had been required in order to help other agencies remove waste responsibly from the Nook Lane site in Oswaldtwistle.

Mr Jones spoke after visiting the site with Environment Agency officers leading the investigation to access the scale of the problem.

He said: “The Environment Agency have been liaising on a regular basis with Hyndburn Council, as the planning authority, and Lancashire County Council planning officers, as the waste sites authority, to consider remediation options for the existing contamination at the site.

“Hyndburn leader Miles Parkinson visited the site and explained that through their planning department an agreement had been reached for the movement of contaminated material with Blakeys, the originator of the waste, and to begin transferring it to Whinney Hill.”