Published Monday 14 October 2019 at 14:44
Blackburn with Darwen Council is appealing for information after a ‘shocking’ amount of construction waste was fly-tipped in Hoddlesden.
A local farmer had to step in and use his tractor to help clear the debris last night (Sunday) after the haul was dumped in Long Hey Lane – close to the bus turning area.
Grey sacks filled with building waste had been left strewn across the road as well as piles of wood and materials.
It’s believed that the incident is one of the worst cases of fly-tipping that’s been reported on a road in the borough.
Councillor Jim Smith, Blackburn with Darwen Council’s Executive Member for Environment Services, said:
There is no other word to describe this incident other than shocking.
Our out-of-hours team were called out at around 8:30pm on Sunday evening and what they were met with is just disgusting.
There were bags and bags of construction waste and piles of wood, plaster board and materials and it’d all been dumped in the road in the dark.
Not only did it cause a blot on the landscape and a significant cost to the taxpayer for cleaning it up, but more seriously it could have resulted in an accident and someone getting hurt.
Luckily, a local farmer saw our team on-site and stepped and offered to help move the debris from the road using his tractor. I’d like to thank him for his help.
Given the amount of waste found dumped, it’s believed that the culprit must’ve been driving a caged vehicle or least at 7.5 tonne lorry.
The Council is now appealing for anyone in the area who may have spotted anything suspicious to come forward with information.
Councillor Smith added:
Someone somewhere will know who is responsible for this.
It looks as though the waste has come from work to a kitchen and it appears that a wall has been pulled down given the amount of plaster board.
We take a zero tolerance approach to fly-tipping in Blackburn with Darwen and we want to find the people responsible and see them prosecuted like we have done in the past.
I feel strongly that this cannot be allowed to happen in our borough – our residents deserve better.
Anyone who fly-tips faces a £50,000 fine, six months imprisonment or both and we will investigate cases and bring those responsible to justice.
Local residents are being asked to check their CCTV and dashcam footage or report any information they have to help the investigation.
Volunteer Janet Pearce, the founder of Keep Darwen Tidy, visited the area on Monday morning and provided these pictures.
She said:
I’m shocked at such reckless behaviour which could have resulted in a serious accident.
Anyone with information can contact the Council on: 01254 585921 or send a message to the Council’s Facebook page – Blackburn with Darwen Council.
You can find more information about Blackburn with Darwen Council’s waste services at: Blackburn.gov.uk/waste
To read more about the work of Keep Darwen Tidy, join their group now on Facebook.