Fury as needles among dumped waste near tip

Residents on a Staffordshire estate are waking up to discover a "skip's worth" of rubbish near their homes, including used bed pans and hypodermic needles.

Lichfield Recycling Centre is closed every Monday and Tuesday which, according to people living next to the Trent Valley Road tip, leads to fly-tipping in the area.

The problem led to an en-ormous pile of waste being left outside the gates, including used needles and bedpans.

Stephanie Cartwright, aged 36, who lives in neighbouring Witley Drive, said: "I've lived on the estate for two years and occasionally you would find the odd mattress or tree cuttings dum-ped, but this time it was syringes and other hospital items.

"My husband and I are really concerned as we have two children and the food waste is attracting rats.

"It's quite upsetting having to drive past that in the morning, it literally looked like someone had dumped a skip's worth of stuff."

Barbara Valladolid, 45, of Mulberry Drive, says the main problem for residents is the fact the tip is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.

She said: "It's all because the recycling plant is closed, people are coming along and emptying the contents of their bins and the rubbish is attracting vermin."

County councillor Mark Winnington, Staffordshire's member for environment and assets, said: "In Staff-ordshire we have a zero tolerance approach to fly-tip- ping and will take strong and decisive action.

"The county's officers worked with their colleagues at Lichfield District Council to gather as much evidence from the bin bags as possible so that they can look to file a prosecution case against those responsible.

"All of the rubbish was removed as soon as the evidence was recovered.

"This blatant disregard for the law is unacceptable."