Fly-tipping – a bigger problem

From a small victory (getting several piles of fly-tipped waste taken away), to a much more significant challenge.

Between Oxhill Road and Elmhurst Road, a lane creates a buffer between the Manor Grove / Tesco site and a terrace of homes on Headingley Road. The lane is gated at both ends, and across two access points part way up, and the gates are meant to be locked.

Rotting mattresses, car tyres, furniture – signs of a recently refurbished house?

For years, this lane has been filled with fly-tipped waste. Fridges to furniture, beds to bin bags, there are impassable mounds of waste, none of which should be there. This isn’t a lane where waste gets collected, so every ounce dumped here stays here.

The land is privately owned, and so the City Council won’t let you report it as fly-tipping either online or over the phone (I’ve tried several times).

The Council have said that this dumping is the responsibility of the home owners.

But the home owners don’t own this land – I know this because I forked out to view the land registry entries, and their property ends at the back of their garden. So no, this isn’t the residents’ fault, but they are the ones who have to live with it.

This rusting, corroded canister is almost full of explosive propane gas

Three houses clubbed together to get a skip and clear some of the area behind their houses, but this cost them hundreds of pounds.

They got a quote to do the whole lane, but it will be well over £7,000. This is on top of Council Tax they already pay to have waste collected.

These are commercial waste bins, not naughty householders putting a bin bag or two out the back…

Today I wrote to Birmingham City Council pushing for action on this dangerous, obstructive, rotten and filthy waste. Handsworth residents deserve to know who has been dumping here, and exactly how it’s going to be fixed.

We need to know how the Council has assessed the risk to residents of all this combustible and explosive material is, how they plan to prevent vermin infesting it, what public health measures can be taken to keep us safe.

I know residents on Headingley Road have been trying to get this sorted for a long time, and it’s beginning to take a toll on their wellbeing.

I am determined to get a resolution on this awful situation. With your support, we can get it sorted.