Cullingworth residents were today facing the possibility that a controversial tip may contain carcass waste from animals infected with foot-and-mouth disease.

After months of rumours, people living near Manywells finally heard yesterday the State Veterinary Service (SVS) had admitted by-products from animals infected by the disease were likely to have been dumped there.

The admission followed months of denials and came at a public meeting to discuss the restoration of the former tip.

Reading from an SVS letter of September 13, Bradford Council environmental service chief Brian Anderson said there was a small possibility Manywells received animal by-products infected with foot-and-mouth disease.

He said the rendering and disposal company contracted by Defra to do the work had again checked its records and acknowledged such materials may have been disposed of at the site on April 4 and 5, 2001. But the letter stated any materials infected with foot-and-mouth disease would have been made safe by the rendering process and the landfill process.

Outlining plans for dealing with the site, Steve Barton, the council's major works chief, said measures had been taken to prevent leachate - the liquid formed by rainwater mixing with landfill material - from seeping through the ground to reach watercourses.

He said a system was in place to collect leachate before it was deposited into the sewer system. He told the meeting his engineers were aiming for the site to produce as much gas as possible for safe collection and disposal.

This would allow for the reshaping of the site, which currently contains around 35 metres of waste at its highest point, with two metres of settlement in the last two years.

It would then be capped to keep rainwater off, with run-off channels installed. Once run-off is shown to be clear it can go into becks rather than the sewer.

He said the site will be restored to a dome shape to prevent water forming ponds, before shrubs and trees are planted. He said the schedule of works would see control of leachate completed by April 2008, with an access road finished in mid-2008.

During the summers of 2008 and 2009 excess material will be removed and the cap added. Between 2008 and through 2010 a gas field will be installed, with restoration timetabled for 2010.

e-mail: jonathan.walton@bradford.newsquest.co.uk