OUTRAGE AT FLY-TIPPING ‘SCOURGE’ ACROSS P&K Dozens of sites blighted by issue
A plea has been made to keep Perth and Kinross tidy, with millions of pounds worth of public money being used to deal with fly-tipping and street cleaning last year.
Cash-strapped Perth and Kinross Council spent £3 million of its budget on street cleaning in 2018/19.
And councillors were recently told how PKC spends public money removing 14 trolleys out of the Lade every fortnight in a bid to tidy up other people’s mess.
The situation may actually be even worse, with the council only liable to clear up fly-tipping on land it owns, and not private land.
Dozens of sites across the region are blighted by fly-tipping.
Last week, we reported that Luncarty, Redgorton and
Moneydie Community Council received complaints of rubbish being dumped at Moneydie and the access road from the A9 to Main Road, Luncarty.
Other recent incidents include at the former site of the Wheel Inn in Scone, on the back road between Pitcairngreen and Bankfoot, Stanley Beach and South Street in Perth.
Beautiful Perth, a charity run entirely by volunteers who organise Perth in Bloom, works hard to make Perth a“beautiful place to live, work and visit”and were last year crowned the RHS Britain in Bloom Champion of Champions.
Chairman John Summers told the PA that volunteers are disheartened by the amount of rubbish they have to clear up after all the hard work and time they devote to tidying up Perth.
He said:“Illegally dumped waste, whether it’s litter dropped on our streets or piles of rubbish fly-tipped in our countryside, is the scourge of our beautiful environment.
“It’s unsightly, dangerous and polluting, and it costs taxpayers a fortune to clear up every year.
“It’s disheartening when we’ve helped clean up an area only to see the waste appearing again.
“There are plenty ways to dispose of rubbish legally in Perth, so there’s no excuse for this disgraceful anti-social behaviour.
“We will be taking part in
Keep Scotland Beautiful’s annual ‘spring clean’initiative again this year, and I hope this and other campaigns will help spread the message that dumping rubbish is a really rubbish thing to do.”
A spokesperson for Perth and Kinross Council said:“The costs of action to address fly-tipping are integrated within our overall street-cleansing budget, which in 2018-19 was £3 million.
“According to the latest national local government benchmarking framework report, Perth and Kinross has amongst the cleanest streets in Scotland and one of the highest customer satisfaction rates with street cleanliness.”