THE long legal saga over a scrapyard which plagued neighbours with nuisance fires appears to be over.

On Monday one of the directors of T H Smith and Sons Ltd, which operated the site off Meadow Street in Great Harwood, withdrew her appeals against three magistrates' court convictions.

They were for accepting electrical and electronic equipment over a 15-month period in contravention of licences which only permitted the handling of scrap vehicles.

The Environment Agency dropped two further cases against Mary Smith during the hearing at Preston Crown Court.

Her appeal against Burnley Magistrates Court’s October 2017 sentence of a 26 weeks' curfew through a community order was dismissed.

The judge confirmed an order requiring Mrs Smith pay £18,000 towards the Environment Agency costs.

She has already served the curfew.

Mrs Smith said yesterday that since a separate legal agreement in December no fires had been burnt at the yard, now trading as Hotdog Tom Ltd.

Cllr Miles Parkinson, leader of Hyndburn Council, said that since that agreement no further waste had been burnt at the site.

In November, Judge Ian Leeming QC at Preston Crown Court placed an order on the directors of T H Smith and Sons banning any blazing materials there.

It followed a joint operation by police, the fire service, Hyndburn Council and the Environment Agency the previous September which temporarily closed the site, then operated by GHM Metals Recycling Ltd.

On October 5 the firm’s directors Tommy and Mary Smith got the closure order lifted pending appeal and a temporary ruling banning burning at the site was imposed instead.

At the November 1 hearing the police and their partners decided not to seek closure but obtained a six-month extension of a contempt of court order banning fires.

Cllr Parkinson said: “I am delighted for the residents of Great Harwood and Clayton-le-Moors there have been no more cases of lighting fires at the site since November last year.”

Mrs Smith said: “We agreed a deal with Environment Agency lawyers at the court hearing regarding my convictions partly because of my health.

“There was no change regarding sentencing and costs as a result.

“This is a separate issue from the lighting of fires. None have been lit since the order last year. As far as we are concerned the matter is closed.”

In November Mr Smith told the Lancashire Telegraph after the Preston Crown Court hearing: “We’ve won. This has been a waste of taxpayers’ money and we now have our scrapyard back.

“There has been no burning on the site for a long time and we will observe the order.”

A Hyndburn Council spokeswoman confirmed the order banning fires had been complied with,