Neighbours are left down in the dumps by tip

Among the many lessons of lockdown, realising just how much clutter we all have lying around our homes has been a near universal realisation. Especially for those of us who have had to find the extra space for working from home and home-schooling.

The extent to which we are all simply drowning in ‘stuff’ in turn highlights our reliance on the services required to be rid of it. It did not go unnoticed that the reopening of the council tips was greeted with almost as much relief as the decision to reopen the pubs. But while everyone is happy to remove unwanted items from around the home, the feeling is understandably one of dismay if you feel they are being dumped on your doorstep instead - which is how some of our readers must be beginning to feel about the developments mounting up in the streets around their homes.

The news that a controversial waste recycling centre in Allington is to go ahead has been met with horror by people living nearby.

They already feel they are shouldering the burden of development thanks to the number of new homes planned for their increasingly built-up community.

The anger of Maidstone borough residents at the plans will likely be intensified by the fact the new tip will primarily serve the needs of Tonbridge and Malling, which has no such facility of its own.

And while the Allington site will be welcomed by people living near the already overburdened Tovil dump, those living on the borough borders may have cause to feel items unwanted in other parts of the county are being being dumped in their back yard. In more ways than one.