SCOTTISH ministers will have to referee the dump wars between Glasgow and South Lanarkshire.

The city council was last month ordered to close its only landfill – at Cathkin – by its neighbouring council.

But now Glasgow has appealed a South Lanarkshire enforcement order to the Scottish Government, putting the conflict between the two Labour administrations straight to the heart of Holyrood.

Ministers will have to appoint a Reporter – essentially a referee – to settle the latest round in a dispute that dates from when Glasgow first decided to dump most of its household trash outside city limits in 1990s.

Officials and politicians on both sides of the county line are furious over the row.

One South Lanarkshire councillor, East Kilbride's Graham Simpson, today said Glasgow was made up of "the most cynical bunch of chancers in Scottish local government".

Early last month, officials from Mr Simpson's authority gave Glasgow just weeks to shut the Cathkin tip, saying it was supposed to have closed nearly a year before and was, therefore, operating without planning permission.

They did so after councillors refused an application from Glasgow for planning permission to extend the life of the tip.

Mr Simpson believes Glasgow's appeal against the enforcement order – and an expected appeal against the refusal of planning permission – was an insult to his council.

He said: "They have had ample time to find alternative sites and recently signed a contract for one in North Lanarkshire – it's never Glasgow – so they can't bleat that they have nowhere to go.

"This is playing the system to buy them yet more extra time."

Mr Simpson is particularly angry the tip could still be open next year, when nearby Cathkin Braes, less than a mile away, hosts mountain biking in the Commonwealth Games.

He said: "Any Glasgow councillor who supports this move should tell us why and should reflect on the fact that one of the venues for the Games is yards from this dump. What kind of image is that to give to the world?

"It's clear Glasgow City Council could not give a damn about that and I hope its ridiculous appeal is given the raspberry it deserves."

Glasgow defended the appeal, saying the time restrictions placed on its work at Cathkin would be impossible to comply with.

A spokesman said: "We have lodged an appeal against the terms of an enforcement notice, which relates to our current planning consent and not our recent application.

"The notice – and, for that matter, our appeal – has no bearing on the duration of landfilling operations at the site."

Glasgow has an alternative deal to take waste to the commercial tip at Greengairs, near Airdrie. By 2016 a new energy-from-waste plant will open in Polmadie.

So Cathkin, whatever the outcome of the appeal, is likely to be wound down in coming years.

david.leask@heraldandtimes.co.uk