‘STREET CAN BE LOVELY - BUT THERE’S A BED AND THREE-PIECE SUITE’

Alley gates to deter fly-tippers are often left unlocked

FLY-TIPPERS have dumped four settees in a Stoke-on-trent alleyway.

Neatly-stacked cushions, rugs, and a pushchair are also among the waste abandoned off Berdmore Street in Fenton.

Residents had hoped that newly-installed alley gates would stop rubbish being dumped.

But they say they are often left unlocked – and fly-tippers are wandering in.

Donna Twigg, aged 58, of Berdmore Street, said: “This has been happening for quite a few years. It isn’t a new problem.

“It’s why they put these gates on – but they’re open all the time and they’ve only been up about a month.

“We’ve had bikes pinched as well, and the situation is not helped by the gates being open.

“The back street can be lovely, but then you look again and there’s a bed and three-piece suite there.”

Labourer Rico Barret, aged 20, who also lives in Berdmore Street, added: “Well, I don’t know who is doing this, but they need to stop.

“I walked down to see about three settees, and that’s just not good enough. The fly-tippers need finding.”

Alley gates are being installed in 17 streets across Fenton and Northwood as part of a Government crime-fighting scheme.

Stoke-on-trent City Council has seen fly-tipping rocket since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Latest figures show the council has received a total of 6,399 reports of dumped waste since the start of the first lockdown on March 23, 2020.

That compares to 4,990 reports over the same period in 2019/20.

City council leader Abi Brown said: “It’s shocking and totally unacceptable that people think it’s perfectly fine to dump rubbish wherever they want.

“Cleaning up any fly-tipped waste is time-consuming and expensive.”