Reports on nearby Leerama Crescent blocks obtained through Freedom of Information reveal up to 8 metres of “decaying domestic waste” and fill found beneath a number of properties at Leerama Court and Duggan Street as little as 20 centimetres below the surface. 

Council was ordered by the Environmental Protection Agency to re-establish the site’s boundaries in June following independently commissioned reports of contamination at neighbouring properties. 

The EPA said it was “likely” rubbish from the historic tip site had extended beyond the site boundary. 

That report is due on November 30.

Duggan Street resident Mark Hosking said he has spent $420,000 of borrowed money over eight years challenging council’s management of the legacy landfill.

Mr Hosking also spent $25,000 mapping the extent his 3 acre property was affected by the waste overflow from the tip site.

He wants council to buy the contaminated acre, which was found by an environmental firm to contain almost 14,000 cubic metres of waste.

“I can’t move on with my life because I can’t sell my house or my land so it’s on my mind every day, I’m stressed every day.

“Over the past weeks, I have … felt physically sick, with my head spinning at the way the council has treated me.”

Council was also issued a remediation notice by the EPA in August to re-cover waste exposed during the construction of a shallow drain. 

The EPA was concerned the uncovered waste would bleed into the Yarrowee River, just 100 metres south east of the former tip site. 

Council Infrastructure and Environment Director Terry Demeo said there was no plan to compensate or buy back land from affected land holders.

Mr Demeo said the council’s obligation to survey the former tip site was to the EPA and the cost of the survey and contractor would remain confidential. 

Council was taken to court in 2012 by a housing developer looking to develop on Duggan Street and ordered to excavate a 50 metre trench to determine whether waste from the former tip had over flowed.

Council subsequently purchased the site, which is directly next door to Mr Hosking’s property.

EPA South West acting manager Tanya McAteer said the works would likely to require a review of historical information and additional survey and sampling works.

The tip site operated between 1978 and 1982.