Haringey Council has agreed to tighten up its procedures for dealing with dangerous waste, after an explosion of a hazardous canister in Muswell Hill in late March. The move follows the intervention of Lib Dem councillor Matt Davies (Fortis Green).

Muswell Hill residents called the Council on 18 March to report that that there was a metal container with ‘flammable liquid’ written on it by a pavement in Queens Avenue and it was leaking.

Residents report that the Council said they would get someone to come and collect it. That evening, at about 10.30pm, the canister exploded and the liquid had been ignited, destroying a nearby car.

The Council has now told local councillor Matt Davies that Haringey Accord arrived the following day to remove the canister, as it had been classed as needing removal within 24 hours. However, the Council has agreed that the issue should have been dealt with more promptly, including involving the Environment Agency if necessary.

Cllr Matt Davies comments:

“This was potentially a very dangerous incident, and procedures have got to be tightened up in future. The Council has agreed to speed up the processing of these kinds of report from residents, though I have a concern about how this is handled if the issue arises ‘out of hours’.I will be pursing this further to ensure that procedures are as robust as they can be, as it was very fortunate that no one was hurt.”