A RECYCLING centre which spawned a huge fire last year has gone bankrupt, casting doubts over the clear-up plan which was promised.

Wood Recycling Services (WRS) in Potters Crouch reportedly went into liquidation last Wednesday, April 10 – less than two months after the Environment Agency (EA) served a notice to revoke their permit, which they decided not to appeal against.

Now fears are surfacing that the operators will not honour the requirements of the permit and remove all waste from the site, prompting St Albans MP Anne Main to brand the situation as “very worrying indeed”.

The EA was unable to advise who would clear the site should WRS fail to, but confirmed that at the moment the recycling firm remained responsible.

Simon Lupson, director of the Appspond Lane-based company, previously said: “There is work to be done to clear the site over the coming months and once that has been completed we will review our position and see where we go from there.”

Mrs Main has recently written to the environment minister and is looking for assurance that the site will be cleared up if the company is liquidised.

She said: “This site has been failing for a long time and I cannot believe that there is not a contingency plan and funds set aside for clearing it up.

“We cannot have uncertainty in this and there is a duty to local residents to make sure they are not left footing the bill.”

Several people earlier voiced their concern the company would not clean up the site, with a nearby farmer admitting she was worried they would “do a runner”.