SWLNflytip – by Faye Mayern
This shocking picture shows 20 tonnes of fly-tipped rubbish on a main road as a councillor brands the mess as an ‘outrage’.
The waste was dumped at 8.34pm on February 5 covering one lane of Brentwood Road in Essex between The Halfway House and Thorndon Country Park.
New figures from the Environment Department (Defra) showed local authorities in England dealt with 1.15 million fly-tipping incidents in 2023/24.
Councillor David Worsfold, Brentwood Borough Council’s Vice-Chair of the Clean and Green Committee, said the fly-tipping was ‘criminal on an industrial scale’.
Mr Worsfold said: “I was horrified and outraged when I was shown a photo of this fly tip – it’s criminal on an industrial scale and we estimate this fly tip was about 20 tonnes of waste.
“Fly tipping is a crime that damages our environment and drains public resources.
“The criminals that commit these fly tips are well organised, and our enforcement teams work closely with Essex Police to gather evidence so hopefully we can identify the culprits and prosecute them.
“We are continuing to invest in high quality CCTV in fly tipping hotspots to give ourselves and the police the evidence that is needed for successful prosecutions.
“We also hope that the knowledge that these cameras will catch the culprits will send out a strong deterrent message.”
A police investigation has been launched.
It comes after news that a cyclist who was seriously injured after hitting a pile of fly-tipped material remains in hospital five months on.
Essex Police were called to Lincolns Lane, Pilgrims Hatch, near Brentwood shortly after 5pm on September 18 last year.
A man in his 30s was arrested on suspicion of causing a danger to road users in connection to the incident and has been released on bail.
