Residents disgusted at fly-tipping in park
A WELL-LOVED Kelty park was tarnished when thoughtless fly-tippers left bags of rubbish to be found by dog-walkers.
Doreen Philp discovered the huge pile, made up of at least 30 black sacks containing roofing materials, early last Tuesday, September 27, in Blairadam Park.
She says that residents were horrified by the find, which Doreen believes could only have been ditched late at night.
“I thought at first workers had been trimming the trees and putting it in bags, but I went to take a look and it was the lining which goes between roof joints and tiles,” she told the Press.
“It looks like someone has had their roof done and whoever they have employed has just dumped the rubbish. I noticed there were water bottles, coffee cups, they’ve dumped it all instead of going to the skip.
“It’s an awful worry, everyone was stopping going into the park.
“You could see tyre tracks going in, one man who lives close by said his dog had woken up at around 2am during the night.”
The park, which had been the site of Blairadam Brickworks previously, is home to a memorial to its original use and is used frequently as a shortcut from Main Street.
“It’s lovely, they have really transformed it,” Doreen told the Press.
“It is used a lot by children, the path goes to the nursery, in the morning kids will be crossing for school buses, mums with buggies, primary school pupils, people with dogs. It’s one of these places which is handy, it’s a really nice bit, it’s such a lovely place it seems ridiculous something like that would happen.”
She says that several people stopped in horror when they saw the pile but she had reassured them that the council had been notified, with officers arriving within the hour.
But that didn’t stop Doreen from doing her own digging, looking out for where there were CCTV or doorbell cameras which may have caught the perpetrator.
“I was laughing because I was standing there thinking, ‘There could be finger prints on those cups!’” she laughed.
“Really, I just read too many crime novels, but I do think it has to be someone who knows the park because you wouldn’t know it was there if you were a stranger to the village.
“Everyone is really disgusted. We are used to things like kids dragging bins and setting them on fire, it makes a mess but it is small compared to this.”
Doreen says that it was easy to report her find to the council online, with the authority urging others to do the same if they come across anything similar.
Dawn Jamieson, safer communities service manager, said: “We’re aware of the issue at Kelty and took swift action to clear the area.
“Where evidence allows, we will consider what action can be taken against whoever is responsible.
“There’s no excuse for fly-tipping, which is a blatant disregard of the law and of our outdoor environment.
“No-one wants to see rubbish dumped, and it has a direct impact on the condition of our roads, parks, wildlife and communities.
“Our recycling centres are open, and we would urge people to make use of these facilities and dispose of recyclable waste responsibly.
“Please also check that anyone you ask to take your waste away is properly registered to do so. Businesses have a legal duty to dispose of their waste responsibly.
“We’re grateful to the people of Fife for reporting fly-tipping and urge them to keep doing so using our online form at www.fife.gov.uk/ flytipping.”