Scott: ‘Who will pay for bonfire damage?’

The Macedon representative said people, particularly those living in Ballyduff, were calling for action to be taken before their properties were damaged by the heat of the large bonfire in the middle of the housing estate.

At this week’s Environment Committee meeting, the Housing Executive outlined its plan for investment in the borough.

Following the presentation Councillor Scott raised what he described as the “thorny issue of bonfires”.

He said: “There are bonfires right across the borough and they all appear to be on Housing Executive land.

“Everyone is getting calls about it from the residents on how they don’t want tyres burnt. The council did remove 4,000 tyres from the Ballyduff bonfire, but there is still another 6,000 on it.”

He went on: “No one is against having the fires, but it’s the heat that burning tyres generates and what it will do to their homes.

“There are people, living in their own homes, that they pay for themselves, and they know that their plastic windows, plastic facia and guttering will melt in the heat and they want to know who will pay for the repairs?

“So who will pay? Will the executive provide the money needed for the necessary repairs?”

Alderman Paul Girvan said he had also received complaints about the bonfire, he added: “One landowner did offer his own field for the bonfire, but this was refused.”

John McPeake, chief executive of the Housing Executive responded: “This is a difficult problem to resolve, but we good relations with the council and the residents and will keep talking until we find a resolution. There are a lot of areas involved, we do try to reduce the amount of toxic material on the fires and minimise damage to our grounds.

“And we do also allow home owners to make liability claims against us.”