Council in catch-22 over illegal dump on old sewage station site

A Forfar councillor whose patience has snapped over the state of an illegal town dumping ground has been told the authority is in a clean-up catch-22.

The former North East of Scotland Water Authority sewage pumping station site at Craig o’ Loch Road has been on the council’s planning enforcement list since a stop notice was served in May 2018 in a bid to prevent fly-tipping on the land.

However, efforts to deal with the problem have hit a barrier because sheriff officers have not been able to serve an enforcement notice on the landowner due to the lack of a current address.

At the latest development standards committee meeting, Forfar independent Ian Mclaren said: “I think this has been going on long enough and I really feel we are now at the stage where direct action should be taken.

“Are we ever going to find out who owns it?” he asked.

Planning chief Kate Cowey said: “I would agree, but what we are concerned about is that we cannot recover the cost because we don’t have the address – it’s a catch-22.

“We have a name, but we don’t have an address to send them a notice.

“We are about to start discussions with our waste department about fly-tipping on the site.”

Forfar independent Colin Brown said: “It’s been a longrunning thing and a lot of bad stuff seems to have been dumped again.

“This is an open area and my worry is who would be responsible if someone got hurt on that piece of rough ground.”

The committee delayed a direct action decision.

The site at Craig o’ Loch Road is covered in rubbish.