The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Councillor gets hands dirty to clear rubbish
A city councillor has rolled up his sleeves to deal with fly tipped waste himself . Eye and Thorney ward councillor David Sanders moved dozens o f ty re s a nd oth e r waste from a ditch running alongside Bukehorn Road, near Thorney.
Councillor Sanders said he had been forced to clear the rubbish up as no one else would do the job.
He said: “I had a call from the owner of nearby Rose Farm telling me that tyres had been dumped in the dyke.
“I wa s t o l d t h e r e we r e about 80 tyres.
“I called Amey (the agency that clears waste on behalf of Peterborough City Council) and they said they could not move the tyres from the dyke because of health and safety issues.
“T h e y s a i d i f s o meo n e moved them to the side of the road, they could be collected though.
“So I thought I had better put my overalls on and move them from the dyke myself, as no one else was going to do it.
“Sometimes you have to get your hands dirty yourself.”
Cllr Sanders said he needed to make two trips to remove all the tyres and waste from the site in his transit van, going on Thursday and Friday.
He said: “It is basically a lorry load of tyres that have been dumped there.
“It was a complete eyesore, and something had to be done.
Cllr Sanders added: “It was a mucky old job, and Amey are normally good at clearing fly tipped waste when it is reported.”
Chri s J ac k s o n, head o f streetcare at Amey, said the ditch was private property and could not be cleared by their staff.
He said: “We are responsible for clearing fly-tipped waste from council-owned or council-maintained land.
“In instances where waste is dumped on private land, it is the responsibility of the land owner to arrange removal.
“We are grateful to Cll r Sanders for reporting the flytipping and helping to remove it from the private land.
“T h e wa s t e wh i c h wa s moved to the verge has also been removed.’’
He added: “All dykes and ditches are checked for ownership and would be health and safety risk-assessed before waste is removed.”