South Holland faces reported 130 per cent rise in fly-tipping, according to district council
South Holland council tax payers are being warned that street cleaning services are under strain from an "avalanche" of fly-tipping.
The area has seen a reported 130 per cent jump in reports of dumped waste , despite the reopening of household waste recycling centres three months ago.
Spalding Marsh, Wykeham, West Pinchbeck and Cowbit are just four of the areas where household waste, including mattresses, timber, furniture, building materials and even children's toys have been thrown down and left in recent weeks.
Chris Carter, NFU South Holland branch chairman, said: "We're all suffering from it and there;s been numerous fly-tipping around the Cowbit area in recent weeks.
"South Holland District Council has been very helpful in getting the offending tips removed because they are being dumped on the highway.
"But the problem is that, as far as I'm aware, the household waste recycling centre in West Marsh Road is still operating on reduced hours and there are also people with vans who are accepting money to pick up waste, while not having the correct waste disposal licence.
"So they are taking it to the nearest layby, or behind walls or trees, and dumping it for cash in hand."
In fact, Spalding and other household waste recycling centres in Lincolnshire are operating a "click and tip" service where people have to book in advance before bringing certain types of waste on those days of the week set aside for it.
Coun Roger Gambba-Jones, the district council's portfolio holder for environmental; services, said: "We weren't seeing much of an increase in fly-tipping during lockdown.
"But recently it's gone nuts and there's been a sudden spike in fly-tipping as everyone has become more active and more confident about moving around.
"Everything we feared from people having more time on their hands has added up to this avalanche of fly-tipping and it's having an impact on the rest of our street cleaning services.
"We're actually diverting resources away from towns, such as Holbeach and Spalding, to make sure we can address the fly-tipping issue in our rural communities who are seeing the worst of it."
