Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council reveals average spend of £22.50 to clean up bonfire sites

Lisburn council confirmed bonfire clean ups, cost on average £22.50. Credit: PA

  • By Donal McMahon, local democracy reporter

A Northern Ireland council has spent an average of £22.50 per bonfire for its 11th night clean-ups.

The Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council (LCCC) expenditure was revealed this week.

The cost of clean-ups in the district came to a total of £180 for eight bonfires, compared to thousands of pounds spent in other council areas such as Newry, Mourne and Down District, where £6,000 was spent on the clean-up at three bonfire sites.

LCCC was asked to confirm reasons for its spend.

A spokesperson said: "Eight bonfires took place on LCCC property on 11 July 2022. The cost to council of the clean-up was £180 in mainly staffing costs.

"Each site only required the removal of a small amount of debris as the main material used appeared to be wood and had burned away."

The low cost comes against a backdrop of recent figures showing that more than £800,000 has been spent on bonfire clean-ups and protecting property from fires over the last three years.

Lisburn North councillor, Jonathan Craig (DUP) - who sits on the leisure and community development committee - lauded the people of the district who have helped to keep the cost to the ratepayer minimal.

He said: "The figure is low because the council works with local communities who act responsibly and not only hold bonfires, but clean up themselves, leaving little work for the council to do.

"Also I suspect most bonfire sites are on housing land not the council's."

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