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A former director of A1 Supa Skips premises in Lancaster which burned down in December in a blaze that was declared a major incident, has pleaded guilty to charges relating to illegal storage of controlled waste.

Oliver Luke Kirkbride, 28, of Stanley Green, Whitehaven, appeared at Blackpool Magistrates’ Court in August charged with failing to comply with or contravene environmental permit condition x 5 and causing the deposition without an environmental permit of controlled waste in/on land x 2 in Lancaster.

He pleaded guilty to all seven charges and will be sentenced at Preston Crown Court on September 11.

Magistrates were told that Kirkbride’s company, A1 Supa Skips, operated at Unit 37 on the Lune Industrial Estate.

Residents were worried about smoke polluting the air.

A1 Supa Skips had its waste permit withdrawn by the Environment Agency (EA) in November 2022 after collapsing into administration.

Oliver Luke Kirkbride was declared bankrupt in July 2023.

A fire at the Supaskips waste storage building began in early December 2023 and burned for almost three weeks, authorities said at the time.

The fire caused huge plumes of smoke to envelop nearby homes.

Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service said the blaze was deep-seated in the large quantities of compacted waste.

The former A1 Supa Skips site in Lancaster had been housing up to 13,000 tonnes of commercial waste.

Efforts to fight the blaze were impeded by the large amounts of waste inside the building, which was providing fuel for the fire to continue burning.

Buildings had to be demolished and thousands of tonnes of waste removed from the Supa Skips site in Port Royal Avenue, Lancaster.

Lancaster City Council paid for waste to be cleared and buildings demolished, to protect local residents. It was left with a final bill of £1.4m.

Following appeals for financial assistance to the Government from council leader Phillip Black and local MP Cat Smith, Lancaster City received a grant of £764,916 to help with its costs.

This grant represented approximately half of the total clean-up bill.

The Environment Agency also contributed £65,000 to the clean-up costs.

The council has written to the owner of the blaze site, pointing out that the site remains “largely untouched” and that it has a duty to ensure that it is safe and poses no risks to the public.

Former A1 Supa Skips director pleads guilty to illegal storage of controlled waste in Lancaster