Gas fears quashed, Teesdale Mercury

Officials have quashed a parish council’s worries over methane leaking from pipes at a former landfill site. 

Councillors living in Bolam had expressed their concerns about the safety and maintenance of the pipes after Durham County Council’s proposal to open up an old bridleway on the site. 

However, a spokesperson for Premier Waste Management, which owns the land, said a recent inspection by the Environment Agency, who monitor the former landfill site, found no faults or damage. 

The newly formed council, which hit the headlines after setting up a protest group opposing plans for a windfarm near the tiny hamlet, wrote to the council objecting to 

the proposed diversion of the bridleway. 

The site has been closed for several years but methane from the rotting waste under ground is collected on a regular basis and monitored daily by CLP Envirogas, a company based at the site which is employed by Premier Waste to gather the gas to turn into electricity. 

Trish Pemberton, chair of Bolam Parish Council, wrote a letter to the council, expressing her concerns about what she saw as potential hazards at the site. 

“We in the village are extremely concerned about the lack of adequate maintenance of the site – we are worried that the site is not one that we wish to cross as it is badly maintained and also contains asbestos. People on the village can testify to how badly the site is managed,” said Mrs Pemberton. 

To support her concerns, Mrs Pemberton also included a letter from her partner, John Wilson, a graduate of the Royal Institute of Chemistry. 

In his letter Mr Wilson said: “I visited the site of the former quarry and landfill near Bolam, County Durham on several occasions and was horrified at the state of the site’s surface pipework which I am led to believe is used to pipe methane to a recovery plant.”

Mr Wilson said he found no labelling or indication of the use or contents of the pipework and said he found it “unacceptable”.

Along with his letter Mr Wilson also enclosed photographs of pipes which he said showed evidence of burning and damage. 

However, Mark Stouph, director of risk assessment management at Premier Waste Management, said the pipes that had caused the concerns were no longer in use. 

“After receiving a letter from Bolam Parish Council last August we investigated the concerns with CLP and identified the pipes were redundant and there is no health and safety risk, or risk to the environment.”

He said that CLP Envirogas work at the site daily, that Premier Waste Management do monthly maintenance checks, and the Environment Agency also monitor the work at the plant. 

The last Environment Agency audit was carried out earlier this month and Mr Stouph said the parish council’s claims were “completely unfounded”. 

In the report it states: “This inspection was undertaken to assess the integrity of the land fill gas collection system. At the time of the inspection no faults of damage could be observed.”

All the sites managed by Premier Waste in the North East collect more than 49,000 mega watts of electricity every year that is derived from methane. 

Durham County Council Highways Committee was due to discuss the reopening of the bridleway at a meeting in Summerhouse but it was postponed due to further documentation coming to light.