Barr Environmental could be about to shut the Garlaff landfill site as a result of the heavy tax fine they’re facing, potentially leading to redundancy for workers.

A source told the Chronicle that the company have been moving operations based at their East Ayrshire site up to Auchencarroch in Alexandria, West Dunbartonshire instead.

The company provides waste management services for both South and East Ayrshire councils.

The source said: “They’ve moved most of the plant from Skares at Garlaff up to Auchencarroch.

“As far as I know they’re going to be shelving Garlaff.

“The talk is at the minute that the waste from East Ayrshire and South Ayrshire is going to be ferried up to Dumbarton.

“Bill Barr built this company up from Barr Construction and now they’re taking the jobs away, again, from East Ayrshire.

“They had wanted to shut the lot, but they’ve got two council contracts until April, they’ve got to honour them, so they’ve got to keep one.

“Supposedly there will be 10 redundancies out of Garlaff. It’s the same old scenario, East Ayrshire gets pumped again.”

It would mean waste from South and East Ayrshire travelling an additional 60 miles.

The company has so far declined to comment on the rumours.

A spokesperson said they would not say either way, citing the ongoing legal process as a reason for staying silent on the matter.

The Chronicle revealed last month that the company is facing a fine of almost £100 million for unpaid Scottish Landfill Tax over a period of several years.

A First Tier Tribunal on October 5 found that Barr owed the tax on “substantial quantities of material that the company say they used for engineering of outer cell walls (“OCWs”), permanent roads and for restoration at its two Scottish landfill sites at Auchencarroch and Garlaff,” between April 1, 2015 and December 31, 2017.

Over the years, the company has made use of material, that would otherwise be disposed of in landfill, for building roads and other engineering purposes at their landfill sites.

This allowed them to offer a cheaper rate for landfill services than competitors and thus win the council contracts.

However, Revenue Scotland said that they should have been paying tax on this material.

The tribunal found that it “amounts to a disposal of waste and therefore taxable.”

It is understood that the company is appealing the tribunals decision.