“THE utter disregard for community is disgusting” was the response from MP Jonathan Reynolds after an industrial amount of rubbish was dumped in Stalybridge.
The fly-tipping took place overnight on Saturday, June 12 and was first spotted by walkers the following morning as they were accessing the bridleway via Sandhills.
The rubbish was reported to Tameside Council, who confirmed it has now been removed.
The area has previously been the focus of clean-ups arranged by volunteers, leaving the community, MP and councillors frustrated and annoyed by the fly-tipping.
Mr Reynolds said: “This picture of incredible volumes of waste dumped in Stalybridge overnight is shocking. The total and utter disregard for community is disgusting.
“I have spoken to Tameside’s Director of operations and neighbourhoods about this. CCTV is being consulted and analysis will be done on the contents to find the culprits.
“The vast majority of us do our bit to try to keep our towns and villages in a state we can be proud of. To the tiny minority who behave like this: you’ve no place in Stalybridge.”
Cllr Liam Billington, who represents Stalybridge South, said he has been calling for CCTV to be installed at local fly-tipping hot spots to prevent incidents such as this.
And he added that no prosecutions have been made since 2017 so more needs to be done to catch and punish the culprits.
Information provided by Tameside Council in response to Freedom of Information requests shows that two prosecutions were made in 2016-17 but none since then.
On the latest incident, Cllr Billington said: “There is plenty of identifiable waste that can be traced back to the owner. If there was some effort put into contacting these people, we will find out who dumped the waste.”
He added: “Despite fly-tipping skyrocketing in the borough, there have been zero prosecutions made since 2017.
“We must, as a borough, discourage fly-tipping. That means getting tough on enforcing the rules.
“I have been calling for some time to have CCTV installed across entrances for nearby fly-tipping hotspots, like Grove Road, Matley Lane, Walkerwood and Millbrook Dam.”
A Tameside Council spokesperson said: “Fly-tipping is an illegal activity which we absolutely do not tolerate.
“We do everything we can as a local authority to discourage the criminal activity in the first place and will always persue enforcement action where incidents occur.
“As with all fly-tipping incidents reported to us, we have sifted through the waste at the Sandhills site and taken photos in order to gain evidence that can be used for prosecution. Evidence was found in this instance and investigations are ongoing.
“Prosecutions for fly-tipping are not a simple process and we would always encourage people to report
fly-tipping and in particular – if witnessing an incident – to take photographs if safe to do so and be willing to provide a statement and go to court.
“Since 2017, we have issued over 1,000 fixed penalty notices for waste offences including fly-tipping and have issued over 1,000 lower level enforcement such as statutory notices.”
Hi I am the Group Scout Leader of the Scout hut adjoined to Sandhills and was also the person who took on the maintenance like having the grass cut etc. I was therefore the person who got blamed on social media for not locking the gate. The chain was cut with Bolt Croppers which I proved. I was also the first person on site with a new chain to make the site safe after the rubbish had been dumped. I was incredibly angry after and search the rubbish for some details, I found Caroline Longs details and address in Farnborough Bolton so I drove over to the address. I am the only person to do this as the council couldn’t be bothered. The address was for Caroline’s parents who called Caroline whilst I was there so I could talk to her. She told me that her partner had hired a skip from a reputable skip company in Bolton but she didn’t have the details and she would call me back when her partner got in. She has never called. The council that are so caring for this land have since removed my keys so I can no longer have this area maintained. I was having the grass cut so that dog owners don’t leave there dog muck there and our Scouts don’t end up covered In it. The council have said they are not going to maintain this land and couldn’t care less about the dog muck as it’s not their responsibility.
Grove road printworks Road has been a hot spot for fly tipping for over 20 years, I know this as I was born n live in heyrod so regularly walk this area with my dog,.
So sick of litter and fly tipping around our local area. These people need to be prosecuted for what they have done. Some cctv at hotspots and the council to take some action. They should have supported the group scout leader who is doing a good job and the council have turned there back to him. Why is the council not taking any responsible action on this issue.