A senior Mid and East Antrim Borough Council official has said the local authority is not aware of who is building bonfires in the district as it emerged that the cost of cleaning up pyre sites topped almost £40,000 last year.
Details of the cost of cleaning up bonfire sites emerged during a recent meeting in Ballymena.
The Mid and East council area includes a number of controversial bonfire sites, including at Craigyhill in Larne, which has unsuccessfully attempted to set an official world height record in recent years.
In 2022 Larne man John Steele (36) lost his life while building a pyre in the nearby Antiville area of the Co Antrim town on land owned by Mid and East Antrim Borough Council.
During a recent meeting a member of the public suggested that officials “must be aware who is building these bonfires as you have been allegedly liaising with them regarding health and safety”.
“Why don’t the bonfire builders leave the site the way they find it or pay the council the cost of the clean-up?” they added.
The council’s operations director Philip Thompson replied that it has a database of 45 potential bonfire locations in the borough.
Of these, he noted, 20 are constructed on council-owned land with the remainder on land owned by the Housing Executive, Education Authority, Department for Infrastructure and on land that is privately owned.
Mr Thompson added that the council “encourages and supports communities to move towards the use of a beacon which provides the focus for a safer cultural celebration event”.
He indicated that last year, the council cleaned up 13 bonfire sites in Mid and East Antrim at a cost of £36,873 to local ratepayers.
“Council is not aware who is building bonfires and is not liaising with bonfire builders in relation to the building of bonfires,” Mr Thompson said.
“Council would agree that those responsible for creating the bonfires should be responsible for the associated cost of clean-up and restoration of the site.
“Council has agreed to appoint an external facilitator to engage with bonfire builders to understand how a safer community friendly cultural event can be developed which respects the views of all stakeholders.”
In March, councillors agreed that council officers would liaise with community representatives to develop a “community engagement protocol” for bonfire management in the borough which will be brought back to members for approval.
