Four men have been arrested in connection with “atrocious” illegal large-scale dumping of waste at a site in Greater Manchester.
Residents near the Bolton House Road site in Wigan have had to endure bad smells, while a week-long fire caused nearby schools to close last summer.
Two men, a 41-year-old and a 35-year-old from Wigan, a 24-year-old from Leeds and a 59-year-old from Liverpool, were arrested for environmental, fraud and money laundering offences, the Environment Agency said.
The 24-year-old man from Leeds was also arrested over waste dumping at the Cave’s Inn Pits Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) near Shawell, Leicestershire.
A 58-year-old man from the Birmingham area was previously arrested in May in connection with illegal waste dumping at the site.
The government has announced it will directly fund the clean-up of the Bolton Road House site, whose entrance has been blocked with concrete blocks by the local authority to prevent any more additional waste being dumped illegally.