A WOODPILE fire in Mountnessing which has been slowly burning for 11 weeks has already cost the fire authority half a million pounds.

And it could be more with the staff costs of other agencies involved in tackling the fire.

Firefighters left the Thoby Lane site almost three weeks ago after digging a trench around the fire to isolate it.

But the 8000 tonne woodpile, made up of scrap timber, continues to burn.

And this week, Barry Aspinell, the leader of the Brentwood Borough Council, attended a meeting to discuss how this sort of thing can be prevented from happening again.

Cllr Aspinell said: "The Mountnessing fire has cost the Fire Authority £500,000. That doesn't include the cost of Environment Agency staff, Environmental Health officers or our enforcement officers.

"The whole thing is being investigated by the Environment Agency.

Cllr Aspinell said that the size of the woodpile was illegal, as the lease-owner of the land only had a temporary license to recycle 500 tonnes of wood.

He said that the agencies involved in tackling the fire were going to call on the Government to change the laws on how easy it is to obtain temporary licences that enable wood to be recycled on wasteland.