A waste site hit with a 48-hour closure notice for ‘nuisance’ burning has been given a reprieve by a judge.

The T.H Smith site on Meadow Street in Great Harwood was raided by more than 100 police officers on Wednesday, September 6, as part of a ‘major’ multi-agency operation.

Police lawyers attended Burnley Magistrates Court on Friday to apply for a closure order which could last up to three months.

However the hearing was postponed one week due to lack of court time.

Video Loading

District Judge James Clarke said the closure notice would not be extended following an application by the defence and means the site can be re-opened.

Simon Farnsworth, defending, claimed there are a ‘number of factual issues’ with the police case and the closure application.

He told the court: “There is a dispute with the application itself which refers to Tom Smith’s Scrapyard which doesn’t exist as an entity.

“As far as the map which the police have produced to say which area they want to close, that’s disputed because half of the area doesn’t belong to the defendant.

"It belongs to someone else who are not part of the proceedings.

“The fires which have been photographed on his land, he does have exemptions and rights where as the prosecution say he doesn’t.”

Mr Farnsworth said the case is ‘predominantly about burning’ and that an 18-tonne ‘air burner’ was removed from the site on Thursday by Hyndburn council in relation to an abatement notice and to ‘prevent the continuation of the nuisance’.

Mr Farnsworth said: “It’s been taken. It’s no longer on the premises.

“The complaint is with regard to burning. The item that was being used to burn has gone and therefore the need of a closure order is no longer there. That’s simple logic.”

The court heard that 80 people work for ‘various companies’ on the site and were ‘no longer able to work’ because of the closure notice.

Chris Keogh, prosecuting on behalf of Lancashire Police, said the closure notice was designed to ‘target the area where the nuisance is coming from’.

He said: “The issue of what is the current area is probably something that needs to be resolved.”

The hearing will take place at Blackburn Magistrates Court before a district judge on Friday, September 15.