Farmers hit by blight of illegal dumping
THEIR farm offers stunning views across West Yorkshire.
But now when Stephen and Rachel Hallos look out over the surrounding countryside, they see piles of rubbish fly-tipped in recent weeks.
Old fridges, rusty gas canisters, mouldy mattresses and unwanted children’s toys lie around an abandoned barn on nearby land, with detritus drifting in the wind towards their award-winning beef cattle herd.
Because it is private land, the local council has refused to help. And with the landowner believed to be out of the country, the Halloses could face a bill of thousands to clear it up.
Fly-tipping gangs are thought to have used a private footpath to make repeated trips to dump truckloads of waste on the land near Ripponden.
‘It’s disgusting,’ Mrs Hallos, 47, said yesterday. ‘We’re at a loss.’
It comes as more than half of farmers complain that their land is being blighted by illegal dumping of waste.