Fly-tipping getting worse and worse, say residents

Mark Hodgkinson said there were fly-tippers coming on a "weekly, day-by-day" basis

"They're not getting spotted," says resident Mark Hodgkinson about the fly-tippers dumping their rubbish along a town's secluded back road.

He thinks the litterers are choosing the area because it is "out of the way" and poorly lit.

His sentiments are shared by other residents who have said the fly-tipping is getting worse "week by week" in Blenheim Lane, Bulwell, Nottingham.

The clean-up is complicated by the road crossing the border between council and private land.

Mr Hodgkinson, 56, said rubbish was also being left outside an enclosure for horses, which he feared could harm them if the waste contained sharp glass or nails.

Mr Hodgkinson said not only was fly-tipping becoming more common, but the dumped items were getting bigger in size

The frustration is shared by Drew Patterson, from Hucknall, who said fly-tippers were seemingly unaware that people lived on the road.

"There was near enough a full kitchen down there, with cupboards, mattresses, you name it, there was all sorts of rubbish," he said.

Mr Patterson also said there was so much litter in the hedges that it would risk breaking his tools if he were to trim them.

Deborah O'Sullivan works at a food truck on the Blenheim Industrial Estate. She said the issue was the worst she had ever seen it.

"It's absolutely terrible," she said. "I've never known it to be like this in all five years I've been up here."

Deborah O'Sullivan, 66, said the city council should install ANPR cameras, as tippers would keep dumping rubbish until they were caught

A spokesperson for the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust told the BBC that fly-tipping can have a hidden impacts on wildlife.

"There are obvious, dangerous, things like broken glass or bottles that could injure mammals.

"More unusual impacts [include] things like invasive species," they said. "And if it's toxic, it could leach into nearby ditches or streams."

Meanwhile, Nottingham City Council said it understood the frustration of residents, but that fly-tipping was "always the responsibility of the perpetrators".

The authority also said it could not "cover the whole city with cameras".

"CCTV can be a useful tool in trying to prevent fly-tipping, but this is a stealth crime by its nature, and is therefore very hard for any council across the country to prosecute.

"While it can sometimes prevent fly-tipping in a certain street or area, it will usually just move the problem somewhere else," the council added.