AFTER a five-week battle, a ‘mountain’ of fly tipping has been removed at the taxpayers’ expense, at the cost of £3,500.
But how did a quiet street in Ashton-under-Lyne find itself at the centre of an ‘argument’ over who was responsible for the clean-up?
Since first being alerted in June, The Correspondent has spoken to several residents and councillors, who detailed events from their own perspective.
In a bid to clean up the streets of St Peter’s ward, newly-elected Independent Councillor Kaleel Khan initiated a community campaign targeting the persistent issue of fly tipping, particularly focusing on the alleyways around Pelham Street.
However, it soon escalated into a contentious situation highlighting the complexities of waste management and civic responsibility.
Councillor Khan’s campaign aimed to mobilise residents to tackle the mounting piles of rubbish blighting the area’s alleyways.
But his efforts met immediate challenges, with Tameside Council advising against weekend clean-ups because of staffing constraints. However, Cllr Khan cited community readiness and one went ahead.
The situation further intensified as he claimed the recycling centre in Stalybridge refused to accept waste from alleyways, with it arguing it fell outside their scope of household waste disposal.
This deadlock added to the frustration of residents already dealing with a pungent stench emanating from the accumulated waste.
During a visit by The Correspondent to Pelham Street, people voiced their frustrations, describing the situation as a health and fire hazard, exacerbated by the current hot weather which amplified the odours and fly infestation.
Some expressed dismay at the lack of direct communication with Cllr Khan to address their concerns promptly.
In response, he stressed the need for council support, criticising what he perceived as inadequate resources and inconsistent policies.
“If the council are serious about fly-tipping they need to help councillors,” he asserted, highlighting his community volunteers’ commitment to improving local conditions.
Tameside Council emphasised that while they cleared the waste at considerable cost to taxpayers, they remain firm on their stance that waste disposal on private land and alleyways is not their responsibility.
They reiterated legal disposal options available to residents, including green bins, recycling centres, licensed waste carriers, and bulky waste collections.
A Tameside Council spokesperson stated: “We have cleared up the accumulation of waste on this occasion.
“But we want to make it clear this is not the right way for residents to approach disposing of their waste and it has come at a cost of approximately £3,500 to local council tax payers.
“We are not responsible for removing waste from alleyways and other private land, nor do we have the budget to do this.
“Residents have several options for disposing of their waste legally. They can separate their waste into their green bin and recycling bins. They can take waste themselves to their local household waste recycling centre. They can hire a licensed waste carrier to remove their waste or they can book a bulky waste collection at www.tameside.gov.uk/bulkyrefuse.
“Dumping waste in the street is classed as fly tipping and it is illegal. We have officers out every day clearing and investigating waste offences and we will always take enforcement action where we find evidence of those responsible.
“This year we have already issued 207 fixed penalty notices and successfully carried out six prosecutions in relation to waste offences.
“We all want to live in a tidy community and take pride in where we live and we value where residents want to work with us to help keep local neighbourhoods cleaner and safer.
“We have established free Litter Hubs, which are based in local community spaces across our towns, where individuals or groups can book free equipment via a local hub, including hi-vis jackets, litter pickers and black bags and arrange for the rubbish to be disposed of appropriately. For more information on this www.tameside.gov.uk/litterhubs.”
To assist the local community with any waste and fly tipping issues, questions or concerns, the council is holding a drop-in session at its Helping Hand cost of living support event at Holy Trinity Community Centre, Dean St, Ashton, on Friday, August 2 from 10am until noon.
I believe this issue stems from the individual who is so keen to dump their rubbish at the lowest possible cost and effort that they just think I’ll pay anybody and then it’s no longer their problem. They are just as responsible for the problem as those doing the dumping. The council should setup a system whereby you can 100 percent prove the people who are taking rubbish are authorised to do so. Recently reported fly tipping on apple street werneth low, the ‘mp’ Phil Chadwick said he was so busy with his holiday to Florida that he had only just noticed a load of posts on the werneth low environmental facebok page and said ‘leave it with him’ and that he’d ‘deal’ with it. One of about 5 refrigerators has an address on it, several vans worth of household waste and a cannabis grow are still there about 3 weeks later. There must be a solution to this problem, shame nobody seems to know what it is.
BLIMEY, people are at last waking up to a problem that’s bighted people’s lives for years, not to mention the cost to tax payers to shift the stuff. Even the Tameside Reporter (under new ownership) has reported on the problem it’s ignored for years.
No surprise at Tameside council’s usual copy and paste comments, trotted out at regular intervals with no positive effect whatsoever. This is the council which recently let a rat-infested pile accumulate (again) for weeks on Fleet Street, Ashton, before shifting it. Two weeks later and the pile is starting to accumulate again, as it does every time the site is cleared. Pity the poor sods who have to put up with living alongside it week in, week out, year in, year out.
Suggest to Tameside council that it might be an idea to start engaging with people to see if any new ideas can come up to ease the problem and you may as well talk Chinese to a brick wall. Plod on regardless is part of their Mission Statement.
To paraphrase the late Desmond Tutu – There comes a point where we need to stop just clearing dumped stuff off the streets. We need to find out why it’s getting dumped in the first place.