Locals in a Plymouth neighbourhood are up in arms after flytipped rubbish has turned land at a disused pub into a total « eyesore ».
The derelict watering hole in Albert Road, Davenport, has become a flytipping magnet despite being behind a 12ft high fence.
Neighbours have battled in vain to keep the spot clear, but the scourge of TVs, furniture and building waste being abandoned near their homes has left them furious.
A man, who didn’t want to be named, told Plymouth Live: « It is downright disgusting in today’s society to see this and with families living around there. It’s spilling onto the footpath and the rubble is affecting parking.
« The amount of stuff that’s been dumped there – there’s wardrobes, a three-piece suite and TVs. It’s in a terrible state. Every day there seems to be something happening. It’s a real eyesore. »
But because the site is understood to be private property there’s little the local council can do to help.
A Plymouth City Council spokesman said the town hall has been trying to sort it out with the landowner for « some time ».
The spokesman warned, however, that a recent inspection led council workers to conclude there was no risk to the public, but added if that was to change then the council would contact the landowner.
According to the latest available Government figures, councils in England dealt with 1.08 million cases of flytipping in 2022-23.
That’s a one percent drop on the previous 12 months, when 1.09 million incidents were reported.
The bulk of flytips in 2022-23 were of household waste, with 653,000. The most common grime crime scenes were on pavements and roads, accounting for two-fifths of the total number of incidents in 2022-23.
While councils took enforcement action 532,000 times over the same period, the number of fines (69,000) decreased 25% from 91,000 in 2021-22, according to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
The number of larger flytips (42,000) increased 4% on 2021-22, costing council taxpayers in England £13.2million, compared with £10.7m the year before.
Private landowners whose land has been flytipped upon are responsible for disposing of the waste and covering the cost of doing so.
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