Toxic waste on Duchy Estate land in Wigan.  King’s private estate tried to sell land with UK’s ‘worst illegal waste dump’ to council

https://archive.is/m3xZb#selection-1235.0-1587.96

KING Charles’s private estate tried to sell land that was contaminated with a large rotting illegal waste dump to a local authority, it has emerged. In January, a 25,000-ton site described as the UK’s “worst illegal waste dump” in Bickershaw, Wigan, was revealed to be largely on land owned by the Duchy of Lancaster, the King’s extensive private portfolio of properties and estates. Previously, the Duchy said it had offered to transfer the land to Wigan Council in July last year.

However, a Freedom of Information Request by Channel 4 News found that the Duchy tried to sell the site to the local authority at full market price. The Duchy previously claimed that it is, in effect, exempt from regulations and duties to clean the site on account of an ancient feudal legal framework dating back some 750 years.

Then in February, following revelations that the toxic illegal landfill was largely on the Duchy’s land, the estate followed up the offer to the council, offering to transfer the land for free. “We have discussed the matter with the Duchy Solicitor, who has confirmed the Duchy will transfer the property to the Council for nil value and with each party bearing their own costs in the hope that that will assist the Council in dealing with the property in conjunction with its own adjoining land,” the Duchy wrote.

In the revealed correspondence, emails from the Duchy’s solicitors, Farrer & Co, show, in addition to the transfer offer, that the Duchy attempted to sell the contaminated land at market value to the council. In July, the Duchy reportedly wrote: “… it may be possible to sell the land to you. Any sale would have to be at open market value and the Duchy of Lancaster’s valuers, and our costs would have to be paid as well.” Wigan Council told Channel 4 News on Monday that it “respectfully declined” the Duchy’s offer.

A Duchy of Lancaster spokesperson told Channel 4 News: “We continue to work with Wigan Council to try and find an effective resolution to the illegal waste site.” Last month, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said that the Duchy’s plan to hand contaminated land to the local council is “not an acceptable response”. The UK Government has since announced it will fund the clean-up of the Wigan site, although it has yet to begin…