UK road a ‘free landfill’ web site for 20 years as a result of there’s ‘no penalties’

A UK road plagued with fly-tipping for greater than 20 years has been dubbed a “free landfill” web site by a bloke who’s compelled to drive down it each day to work.

Kevin Richards makes use of the dead-end highway in Erith, southeast London, to get to an industrial property and says driving via the ocean of garbage at evening has broken his car – setting him again £500.

But he says the native council, his MP and the Environment Agency merely do not care regardless of the quantity of complaints made as a result of Wallhouse Road, which ends up in Darent Industrial Park, is “out of sight, out of mind”.

READ MORE: UK’s ‘most miserable’ metropolis is ‘Wild West’ with folks ‘afraid to stroll down road’

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Lorry driver Mr Richards says the unlit highway has been a hotspot for fly-tippers since he moved to the world on the flip of the millennium, however the issue has considerably worsened lately.

Among the “free landfill” web site there are piles of furnishings, fridges, tyres and family and industrial waste that blight the highway – making the world a haven for rodents and foxes.

“During the night there’s fly-tipping in the middle of the road,” Mr Richards says. “I broken the entrance bumper of my minibus one evening, which is costing me £500 to restore.

“I’ve contacted Bexley Council, my local MP and the Environment Agency about it, but they are all passing the buck and saying it’s nothing to do with them. In the summer of 2022, there was a huge fire down the road and it was closed off for three days.

“The fireplace removed many of the garbage however now it is worse than it was earlier than. Because it is down a dead-end highway and never many individuals go down the property, it is out of sight, out of thoughts.

“There are not any streetlights in any respect. It’s pitch black down there. People know that they will go down there and tip as they don’t seem to be going to get fined or something.

“No one’s going to say anything to them. So basically, it’s a free landfill. I’ve actually seen people dumping rubbish in full daylight – they just know there’s no repercussions. Nobody wants to know.”

He says he thinks folks dump their garbage there as a result of authorized disposal is dear, including responses from Bexley Council, his MP, Conservative Sir David Evennett, and the Environment Agency have all confirmed disappointing – saying there may be confusion as to who’s accountable for it.

“I’ve spoken to people who are in their 50s and 60s, and they tell me when they were a child, they used to go down that road to play,” Mr Richards says. “It was a lovely, beautiful area with the dike on the other side of the road – they used to go fishing. You’d be lucky if there’s anything in there now.”

A Bexley Council spokesperson mentioned the authority takes fly-tipping critically and had been working so as to add extra CCTV cameras and deterrents to discourage would-be dumpers. They mentioned: “We remove any waste which has been deposited onto the highway as quickly as possible.

“The ditches which run alongside the freeway are privately owned and we’re engaged on options with the landowner. We take fly-tipping very critically and are persevering with to have interaction with the landowners, the setting company, and native companies to fight this.

“We are working on plans to increase CCTV coverage, introduce new deterrents, and clear the accumulation of waste, which we hope to announce over the coming months. We regularly inspect waste deposits in Wallhouse Road and follow up on any evidence which is provided to us.”

The council reported 83 Fixed Penalty Notices issued for unlawful waste deposits on Wallhouse Road final 12 months, together with 21 issued to non-compliant waste carriers and 9 to residents missing due diligence when arranging for a contractor to gather their waste.

A spokesperson for the Environment Agency mentioned: “We will continue to work with all partners to develop a long-term and robust solution to stop the complex fly-tipping issues on Ray Lamb Way and Wallhouse Road.”

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