Children ‘using building bags as canoes’ on river

CHILDREN are using plastic sacks from a building site to “canoe” down a nearby river, a resident has warned.

Concerns have been raised over youngsters spotted taking building material from St Ederyn’s Village development in Cardiff to travel down the River Rhymney.

Pontprennau resident Kevin Russell said a number of discarded bags filled with polystyrene were found on Saturday near the river by Bridge Road in Old St Mellons.

It came after a number of teenagers were seen using the bags to try to float on the water.

Mr Russell, 59, said: “These bags are 15ft long and about two square foot wide and are shaped like a pencil.

“They contain hundreds of thousands of small plastic balls almost like tiny marbles.”

The discovery followed Natural Resources Wales charging Persimmons Homes £3,612 in clean-up fees following a similar incident last year.

The housing developers were also issued a warning let for allowing “polluting material” to enter the river.

Mr Russell said: “I think it was about last year that bags were dumped in the field about 100 yards from the river.

“The kids from the area often come across to play in the woods and have done so for years and they came across these fantastic canoes.

“The kids had an absolute field day. These bags then float down the river until they end up everywhere.”

The former policeman added: “Now they have moved further down by the M4 by the public footpath and there are bags still there.

“The kids must have been canoeing again.

“On Saturday there was another one of the canvas bags floating. It had come to rest on a rocky shore but the river levels are very low.

“Because the river is tidal from the bottom of Rumney Hill the water takes the bags and then dumps them. Once one was recovered from Llantwit Major.”

A spokesman for Persimmon Homes East Wales urged parents to remind children of the dangers of entering construction sites.

But concerns have also been raised over the impact of the bags on the environment.

Mr Russell said: “These bags that are dumped are extremely damaging to the environment.

“It’s for Persimmon to take responsibility. I know it’s not their fault the kids are stealing them but they have the responsibility to ensure kids can’t get hold of them.

“I’m an active member of Keep Wales Tidy and I use my time to go out with a litter-picking stick so when someone like Persimmon doesn’t care it annoys me. They need to work with the community.”

Susan Fitzpatrick, natural resource management team leader for Natural Resources Wales, said: “We take river pollution very seriously which is why we have staff on hand to investigate any incident that is reported to us.

“Due to inappropriate storage of equipment and inadequate security, individuals were able to access the Charles Church/Persimmon Homes development site and take bags of construction plastic that were then left on the River Rhymney.

“A similar issue occurred last year and, while this isn’t a traditional case of flytipping, the responsibility to secure their property and retrieve these polystyrenefilled bags lies with the site owners Persimmon.”

A spokesman for Persimmon Homes East Wales said: “We ensure that the construction areas of our sites are kept secure both during and outside working hours.

“Building sites are dangerous places and we’d urge parents to work with us by reminding their children not to enter fenced-off areas.”

The construction work at the St Ederyn’s Village development forms part of plans to develop 1,020 properties in the area.