Litter pickers demand CCTV after clean-up

COMMUNITY-MINDED residents spent hours clearing a mountain of rubbish from a fly-tipping hotspot in Almondbury over the weekend.

Jonathon Spencer, 31, was joined by up to 30 volunteers on Saturday as the group set about hauling the huge amount of litter from a ravine between Somerset Road and Almondbury Bank.

Some of the rubbish collected by the team included mattresses, beer cans dating back to 1999 – and a fridge.

The volunteers gathered at 9.30am and worked until 1pm, when Kirklees Council had arranged to collect the rubbish from the side of the road.

But the tipper van sent by the council was forced to make three trips due to the sheer amount of rubbish found in the woodland.

Earlier this month, Jonathon told The Examiner how fly-tippers had ‘plagued residents’ in the area for some time.

He claimed Kirklees Council had done little to combat the issue, adding his calls for action had often fallen on deaf ears.

Now, after orchestrating the cleanup effort, Jonathon is calling on the council to install a fence along the targeted footpath – as well as CCTV.

“What we want is a fence along the entire path to deter anyone from throwing litter into the ravine,” he said.

“We also want CCTV to be installed so that we can catch anyone who does think that fly-tipping is acceptable.”

Colin Parr, strategic director for environment and climate change, said: “There are many ways Kirklees Council tries to combat fly-tipping and, although CCTV and fencing may seem like the best solution, this does not necessarily solve the problem. Fly-tipping unfortunately comes down to a few people simply not caring about what happens to their waste and the impact dumping it has on others.

“Ultimately, there is no excuse for fly-tipping. It is a criminal offence and Kirklees Council will take enforcement action against perpetrators where we have evidence of an offence.

“We ask the public to report any incidents of fly-tipping and to check for licensed companies when arranging for waste collections on our website kirklees.gov.uk/flytipping.”