THE facts are revealing that the illegal dumpers at the former Lurgi Gasification Plant are in the main coming from all over Scotland and north of England.

This historic industrial site is being desecrated by these people and it is simply shocking.

The Lurgi plant brought a new way of producing gas from low grade coal for the National Grid and was the first of its type in the UK.

It was a key part of the Westfield Opencast Site which employed hundreds of local people at its peak.

The gas plant was demolished a couple of years ago and it seems to have simply provided an open invitation to people to start their dumping operations.

Demo-Master, who demolished the Lurgi plant and factor the site, have been working hard to try to stop these people coming to it to dump their waste but it has been a struggle.

It is such a big open area that trying to stop these perpetrators, short of having a big team staking out the site at night, is very, very difficult.

The fact that people are coming from the Newcastle area to carry out this illegal act makes you ask the question, how did they find out about the vulnerability of the site to dumpers?

But the fact that it is vehicles of various types coming to Westfield from Glasgow, Lanarkshire and Ayrshire to carry out their illegal acts also is a concern as is that knowledge of the site as being a possible target for dumping is wide.

Demo-Master have been cleaning up some of the worst parts of the massive area, but it is quite a task and when they have achieved their aim they will be coming up with a way to ensure that these illegal dumpers have to look elsewhere to carry out their illegal acts.

The Demo-Master team are frustrated by the situation but hopefully they will have the benefit of seeing the site clear of all the rubbish and looking ready for a future positive use.