AN entrepreneur and Brent Council have clashed over a toxic waste site amid fears it may collapse on to the North Circular.

Firm Ashia Centur Ltd have issued the council with a notice demanding urgent clean-up of the Twyford Tip, in Abbey Road, which has been left contaminated by years of use as a council landfill.

However, the council is denying it has responsibility for the site, which it sold on to film producer Sharad Patel in 1992.

Mr Patel has long standing aims to build a £65m entertainment complex on the site, dubbed Century City, but the project cannot begin until the waste has been cleaned up.

Leslie Winters, the project director for Century City and a former Brent Council, accused the council of shirking its legal duties and doing everything it can to put off doing the clean-up work.

He said: “We can't put buildings on any type of land that is literally poisonous. It has to be maintained by the local council and they know it is their obligation to fix it.

“The council has been obstructive all the way through, and has made it very clear that it wants the land back.”

But the council fired back a strong rebuttal, claiming it has no legal duties to clean up the site – a task it said would fall to Ashia Centur Ltd if and when a development project began.

The row has been rumbling between the firm and the council for several years, and was reignited last month when the company sent the council a remediation notice, demanding a clean is started.

But the council has dismissed the notice, saying it held no legal powers and is sticking to the line that it is not liable.

The Century City project, which includes film and television studios, multiplex cinemas, restaurants, and cafes, and a four star hotel, have planning permission and will featured the iconic UK Pavilion from Spain's Expo '92 at the centre.

The celebrated building was brought to Britain by Mr Patel to much fanfare, but has since been put into storage as his entertainment complex dreams stalled.

With the dispute runmbling on, Mr Winters warned in a letter to the council that leaks in the waste site have been identified and there is a fear that the land could collapse on to the North Circular if it is not cleared.

He said money for the clearance - between £30m and £50m – could be obtained from the European Union by the council.

But as the dispute continues, a large site with plenty of potential for Brent residents continues to stand empty and toxic.