Government owes Greater Manchester £1million after last summer's moorland fires

Heywood Tanks helped battle the Winter Hill fire last summer

Greater Manchester is reportedly still owed more than £1 million by the government following last summer’s moorland fires.

According to the Oldham Evening Chronicle, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority had to pay out not only for their own firefighters but also for other brigades and the army, who were brought in to tackle the blazing moorlands in Greater Manchester.

The region’s mayor Andy Burnham is understood to have requested funding from the emergency Bellwin scheme, set up to aid local authorities with costs during a disaster or major emergency.

Mr Burnham said: “It’s unusual that in an area that experienced an incident - two incidents in fact - of this scale, we are still waiting to hear whether we can access the Bellwin scheme.

“This wasn’t a regular incident, it was an incident of national or even international scale. That the army were deployed says it all, I think.

“If you can’t manage without the army, by definition it isn’t a local funding issue.”

• www.oldham-chronicle.co.uk/news-features/139/main-news/125924/government-told-to-pay-the-1-million-they-owe-greater-manchester-after-last-summers-moorland-fire