Flooding fears as fly-tipped rubbish blocks River Brent
A WEST London river has been blocked by mountains of dumped rubbish from ‘thousands of bottles’ to a wheelbarrow and even an oil drum.
The litter pile also includes a pair of slippers – the collection of items has blocked part of the river and caused fears among locals that flooding is now more likely, possibly putting a playgroup at danger.
The stretch of the River Brent that is clogged up is by Ealing Golf Club, in Pitshanger Park, and has reportedly been covered in litter for more than two weeks, not helped by heavy rainfall.
Locals have been complaining about the smell that is coming from the stretch of rubbish and eagleeyed river watchers have spotted strange items among the “smelly” heap.
Close to the litter pile, on the other side of Pitshanger Park, is Ealing Golf Club, which has suffered regular flooding when the River Brent breaks its banks.
The golf club has had multiple flooding instances and there are fears from locals that other amenities will now be impacted because of the rubbish pile causing the river flowing problems.
On a local community group one man was concerned about Pitshanger Playgroup, which is inside the park.
Other locals were quick to say it will be safe as it is on a hill, but there were also shared fears the new litter clump would make the flooding “worse” and therefore reach the playground.
One man said: “I’m scared with all the litter that the playgroup will be threatened.
“If the water and heavy rain continues anything can happen.”
Another woman said: “That is a horrible pile of rubbish. I regularly walk past it and it stinks. I want something to be done about it but we need to stop it at the source: the litter bugs.”
One simply putting: “Disgusting. Needs to be picked up.”
In October the River Brent was polluted by a sewage and oil spillage. More than 8km of the river was impacted and dozens of fish and aquatic life have been reported dead.
At the time, a report from the Environment Agency about the pollution of the River Brent in Ealing, said: “Sewage and oil has been affecting approximately 8km of the River Brent. Fisheries Officers are travelling to the site to assess the situation further.
“Our officers will continue to monitor the incident and will deploy additional resources as necessary.
“We are coordinating our response with our partners at Thames Water. Our investigations into the cause of the incident are ongoing.”
The Environment Agency didn’t release anything about the most recent pollution. The Canals and River trust were contacted for comment but did not respond.