Supaskips building owners urged to address condition of the site

Lancaster City Council has reassured residents living close to the Lune Industrial Estate that it continues to monitor the former Supaskips building and has written to its owners asking them to address the condition of the site.

Last December a major fire broke out at the former Supaskips site and the council was part of a multi-agency response that came together to manage the incident.

Although the city council does not have any direct responsibility for the privately owned site, it quickly recognised that a swift resolution was needed for the sake of residents, businesses and to protect the environment.

As a result, it agreed to contribute a total of £1.4million to help Lancashire Fire and Rescue to gain access to the seat of the fire by paying to demolish part of the building.

This enabled firefighters to extinguish the blaze, waste to be removed and the risk reduced of the fire reoccurring. It was later able to recoup £764,916 of this outlay from the Government following a period of intense lobbying.

Some eight months on and the site appears to be largely untouched since emergency services declared the fire to be extinguished, and the council has written to the owners to remind them that they have a responsibility to ensure the site is safe.

Councillor Phillip Black, leader of Lancaster City Council, said: “Although the emergency phase of the incident is over, it is important that people know we continue to put pressure on the owners to live up to their responsibilities. They have a duty to ensure that their site is safely maintained and that there are no potential risks to the community.

“In addition to reminding them about their obligations we have requested a meeting to discuss matters further, with a view to finding out more about their plans for the long-term future of the building.”

The council is also now able to provide further details of the air quality results taken during the fire. Good air quality across the district is a priority for the council, and it has invested in a quantity of air quality sensors, a resource which most local authorities do not have access to for deployment in such situations.

The air sensors enabled the council to monitor concentrations of particulate matter PM10 and PM2.5, air pollutants harmful to health. In consultation with experts from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), limits for exposure to particulate matter for residents’ safety were set.

These limits were 100 µg/m3 for PM10, and 70 µg/m3 for PM2.5, averaged over an 8-hour period. Particulate matter is a common air pollutant and consists of very small particles found in dust and smoke. The particles have a diameter of less than 10 micrometres (PM10), 2.5 micrometres (PM2.5) or even smaller.

As the monitors produced real-time data, minute-by-minute updates were available, meaning the council and the UKHSA could be notified of a risk immediately if the limit exceeded.

Only once – on December 13 – did the particulate matter reach the limit set over an 8-hour period, but this rapidly dropped in the following 8-hour period from 103 µg/m3 of PM10 to 46 µg/m3.

With changing weather and wind directions, the smoke plume regularly changed direction, meaning that no area has been subjected to the smoke for extended periods of time - significantly decreasing risks to health.

At no other time have levels raised above the limit. The monitoring began as soon as the fire broke out and continued throughout the incident.

Last updated: 15 August 2024