Fly-tippers target 'one of the poorest' city areas

Henley Green was ranked as the most deprived area in Coventry in 2019

Sofas, mattresses, a door and a pile of burned rubbish were among items dumped by fly-tippers at a housing complex in Coventry.

The waste was left behind on three roads and the main green of the Manor Farm estate in Henley Green.

Ian Rogers, a local resident and the founder of Coventry Citizens Party, claimed that city authorities did not seem to care about the state of the area.

Coventry City Council and Citizen Housing said they were trying to tackle fly-tipping, with Citizen having removed the rubbish and the council promising to investigate.

Coventry City Council said it would be investigating the reports of fly-tipping

In a post from June on the Coventry Citizens Party website, Mr Rogers said he had taken "hundreds" of photos of fly-tipping in the area as well as Foleshill and Hillfields over the past four years.

He said: "Unfortunately, this is one of the poorest areas in the whole of England but neither the council nor Citizen Housing seem to care about the state of it."

Five years ago, Henley Green was ranked as the most deprived area in Coventry and the 94th poorest place in England, according to figures from the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD).

As of 2021, most households on the Manor Farm estate were classified as being deprived in at least one way – such as education, employment, health or housing.

Mr Rogers, who grew up directly opposite the Henley Green tower block, said the area fell into disrepair after local amenities had been removed in the past.

Mouldy mattresses and old sofas are a few of the items Ian Rogers has photographed around the Manor Farm estate

Elly Dix, head of estates and services at Citizen, said: "We received three reports of fly tipping across the Manor Farm estate on 29 August which included items such as a sofa, cardboard and a bin.

"These items were all removed within 24 hours of them being reported to us – ahead of our five-working-day target."

In partnership with Coventry City Council and the police, Citizen held an event on the Manor Farm estates where it collected fly-tipping and encouraged customers to hand over bulky waste for free disposal.

A council spokesperson said: "As a Council, we are proud of all parts of our city and we work very hard to keep it clean. However, as you can see with incidents like this, there are a small number of people who spoil it for everyone.

"None of these incidents were reported to us. Now they have been, we’ll be investigating, cleaning and working with Citizen to tackle the ones on their land."

Both Citizen and the council have urged anyone to report fly-tipping to their either Citizen's customer experience centre or on the council's dedicated website.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.