The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Anger as mountain of waste left on city street
Large uptake in free bulky waste collection service
A city councillor has hit out after it took nearly a week to get a giant mountain of fly-tipping cleared from a Peterborough street.
The pile of beds, doors, sofas and other rubbish was left on Vergette Street in Peterborough last week - and despite the waste piling up on the pavement, it was not cleared until Monday afternoon.
Park Ward councillor Richard Ferris said: “We have had a lot of environmental crime in this part of Park Ward recently - there is stuff dumped almost every week - but this is one of the worst I have seen. It is awful. It looks like a house clearance - but a lot of the things left are soiled.”
Cllr Ferris said a resident had reported the dumped rubbish to the council last week and he had also reported it on Friday and Monday.
He said: “I don’t know why it has taken so long to clear.
“When you ask people if they have seen anything, noone ever has. I don’t know if it is because they genuinely haven’t seen anything, or if they are being intimidated.”
This week is the first week residents can book a free bulky waste collection with Peterborough City Council, with pick-ups starting next week - and the scheme has already proved so popular the first week has already been filled.
Cllr Gavin Elsey, cabinet member for waste and street scene, said an investigation would be carried out into the fly-tipped waste - and encouraged people to take advantage of the bulky waste trial.
He said: “We will be conducting a full investigation to try and find out the identity of the culprits and we will seek prosecution if we can gather enough evidence. If anyone is considering hiring a waste collection firm, they should first make sure that the company has a licence do so. If they don’t and the waste is subsequently flytipped, the householder could also be liable for a fine. Better still, households can now take advantage of a free three month bulky waste collection service which the council is now offering.”
Initially the council will make more than 1,000 free collections during the first month of the trial with a daily limit of up to 52 households. Across the second and third months a daily limit of 26 collections will be in place, although uptake will be monitored and this limit could be increased based on demand.