Extra time to reduce Brierley Hill rubbish mound

A firm at the centre of a row over a towering pile of rubbish at its site has been given four more months to further reduce the height of the mound.

Black Country firm Refuse Derived Fuel Ltd (RDF) was given another deadline by the courts after an agreement was reached by bosses and the Environment Agency.

At one point the mountain of rubbish was 40ft high but bosses at the firm, which operates a waste recycling plant in Moor Street, Brierley Hill, complied with a High Court ruling made last month stating the pile should be brought down to about 26ft high.

A new agreement that the waste should be lowered further to about 20ft by October 12 is now in place following a hearing in Birmingham yesterday. Residents claimed the pile was an eyesore, towering over homes on the Honeybourne estate, built on the former Royal Brierley Crystal factory.

Further conditions imposed by the courts include removing more processed waste from the site and taking soil and other aggregates away.

The company shreds and dries solid waste, turning the household rubbish and industrial refuse into fuel. Monthly progress reports to the Environment Agency were also agreed by RDF bosses.

RDF declined to comment on the outcome of yesterday's hearing. Environment Agency spokesman David Hudson said: "I think the pile was 13 metres high at one point. It has since come down, it is the first sign of progress.

"The top of the pile has gone, and we are looking forward to seeing it come down further.