WREXHAM Council is letting residents know what will happen next after last week's blaze at Hafod Quarry landfill site.

Residents were left concerned in the wake of the large fire that broke out on the site in Johnstown on May 27, taking several days to put out.

Fire crews from Johnstown, Wrexham, Llangollen, Ellesmere, Chirk and Llangollen were mobilised to tackle the blaze at 7.12pm last Wednesday.

During that time people living in and near Bangor Road were asked to adhere to the advice issued by Public Health Wales to stay indoors with their windows closed until it was safe to open them and go out into their gardens once again.

A petition has been started to close the tip.

Now the fire is out and the authorities have left the scene, the council thought it would be "helpful to let you all know what happens next regarding the site".

Natural Resources Wales, which owns and regulates the site, and North Wales Fire and Rescue Service will undertake an investigation into the cause of the fire and to find out if any of the site regulations were broken in any way and will report back once the investigation is complete.

Wrexham Council has no interests in the site financial or commercial, does not use it for any of our household waste, but the authority says it always has a duty towards all of our residents to protect their health and well-being when an incident such as this happens.

Bearing in mind this duty and the concerns of the affected residents the Lead Member for Environment and Transport, Cllr David A Bithell, has written to the Welsh Government Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs, Lesley Griffiths, to seek assurances about the safety of the Hafod Quarry Landfill site and what actions or investigations Welsh Government will be undertaking before it is re-opened for future use.

He said: “Many residents in the surrounding communities have raised significant concerns about the future safety of the site and are concerned for the well-being of their families and loved ones with the threat of further fire outbreaks at the Hafod site.

“For a number of years Wrexham has successfully introduced waste processing measures that result in only a tiny fraction of our waste (asbestos products in the main) being sent to landfill, and this at a specialist processing facility. Wrexham CBC landfilled 339.29 tonnes last year which was 0.4% of our total overall waste collected of 88,527 tonnes with no waste disposed at Hafod landfill.

“Like many authorities across Wales we are managing waste processing largely without the need for landfill treatments, yet we have a local landfill only metres away from some of our densely populated urban communities. Can I ask for some details of the waste arisings deposited in Hafod over the last 3 month period and also their source.

“I am sure the Minister will share with me the concerns about the future viability of the site and I look forward to Welsh Government investigations and conclusions prior to the site being permitted to accept further waste for treatment without understanding and implementing appropriate mitigations.”