‘Rats running about’ amid fly-tipping near the M6

DUMPED rubbish has been mounting up in an isolated area near the M6 – despite being reported six months ago.

The isolated wooded area off the A5182 Trentham Road, near Hanchurch, leads to the M6 and has bags of rubbish piled on the side of the road. More have rolled down the bank.

Motorists have reported seeing fridges and ovens along with the flytipped black bags.

Passing motorists have claimed seeing rats and other pests in the area and a lingering smell caused by the rotting waste.

The layby where the rubbish is dumped has signs from Stafford Borough Council informing people that cameras are in the area and dropping litter will result in a £75 fine. However from the amount of litter and fly-tipping in the area this doesn’t appear to be operational.

One resident who did not want to be named said he first reported the issue in October and no action has been taken.

The resident said: “What’s happened is in the past six weeks more stuff has been dumped there.

“I pay council tax and everything but it’s been piling up for three or four years and it’s a mess. There are even rats and things running about there.

“I thought surely we should respect our countryside a little bit more than this. So I phoned up and spoke to numerous people, I’ve got photos and I just feel like I’ve been fobbed off.”

The road acts as the boundary between Newcastle Borough and Stafford Borough Districts which means depending on what side the rubbish is left depends on which authority is responsible for removing the waste.

John Goodfellow added: “It’s a disgrace, it really is. Ideally it all needs to be cleaned away because it just stinks”

Stafford Borough Council say the rubbish is dumped on private land which means that it is the landowners responsibility to clear the land of the dumped waste.

At this time, however, it is not clear who the landowner is.