A BRADFORD MP and councillor have hit out at the "lack of action" and ongoing "danger to residents" after the site of major tyre fire in November has yet to be cleared.

Both Bradford East MP Imran Hussain and Cllr Talat Sajawal (Ind, Little Horton) have expressed concerns that the operator of the Spring Mill Street site had failed to comply with an Environment Agency enforcement notice to clear the area.

At the height of the blaze, approximately 100 firefighters tackled the fire at the site which held about 600,000 tyres.

Mr Hussian said: “I am extremely concerned that almost three months on from this major fire at Spring Mill Street, the site has yet to be fully cleared, despite the warnings, orders and enforcement notices in place.

“As a result of their negligence and failure to clear the site, it continues to pose a serious danger to both residents and the local environment, and I will continue to press the relevant agencies involved to take the action needed to clear the site without delay."

Cllr Sajawal said that he "would have expected the site to be cleared" by now.

"I'm not sure what this to-ing and fro-ing is about," he said. "I would have expected the site to be cleared because we don't want something like this to happen again.

"The lack of action from somebody brought Bradford to a standstill and caused so much disruption for everybody.

"People were living on edge when the fire was burning," said Cllr Sajawal. "It's not something we want to go through as a city again.

"It's about being pro-active and not reactive. I'll definitely be asking some questions.

"With Covid going on, maybe everything has slowed things down a bit."

When the T&A contacted site owner Jaq Yaqoob and asked about the tyre fire and the clearance notice, Mr Yaqoob said: "I'm not going to divulge anything further."

A man aged 59 and a 48-year-old woman were arrested in North Yorkshire in connection with the blaze.

West Yorkshire Police said today that both are still on bail and enquiries are ongoing.

The Environment Agency had served a clearance notice on operators of the site before the fire had broken out in mid-November.

Following a visit to the site on Thursday, a spokesperson for the Environment Agency said: “The operator has failed to comply with the legal requirements of an enforcement notice, compelling it to remove tyres from its illegal waste site on Spring Mill Street.

"Failure to comply with the conditions of an enforcement notice is a criminal offence. This will be considered as part of the Environment Agency’s ongoing investigation.

“The Environment Agency is now working with those that have legal responsibility for the land to seek removal of waste from the site.”

The fire caused major disruption as schools, courts and businesses were closed due to air pollution caused by smoke from the blaze.

Public transport services in and out of Bradford Interchange also had to be cancelled or diverted, and a number of nearby roads closed.

After the fire service was called to the fire in the early hours of the morning on Monday, November 16, 2020, fire engines headed to the scene immediately and within the first couple of hours there were almost 100 firefighters and officers tackling the blaze, with 15 fire engines and two aerial ladder appliances in attendance.

The fire service later used foam to further tackle the flames, which generated more smoke, and with the amount the fire had already generated people were reminded to stay inside and keep their windows and doors shut.

The smoke, which reached as far as Leeds, caused the closure of as many as 20 schools with many citing reasons such as "concerns about poor air quality, acrid smoke causing air pollution and toxic fumes settling over the area."