Eyesore rubbish dump to stay

A large pile of rubbish bags, debris, a cupboard and a variety of materials has accumulated outside an empty property in Lea Road, Graiseley.

The site, which is near to Penn Road, is an eyesore for nearby residents.

But ward councillor Elias Mattu said the council would only get involved in exceptional circumstances.

The rubbish is on private land and Councillor Mattu said it was often difficult to get landlords to remove any instances of fly tipping.

He added: "This is a particular problem at empty properties like this one.

"And it's very difficult to track down the landlords, which means that the sites can blight our areas.

"Landlords need to take responsibility.

"The site in question is a real mess and it's not good for the neighbourhood."

Councillor Mattu said he had raised the issue with council chiefs in the past.

He has also spent whole days on the site clearing rubbish.

Clean-ups have also taken place, but with funding no longer in place the site has become an eyesore.

Wolverhampton City Council is making £123m of cuts by 2019, axing 2,000 jobs in the process.

Councillor Mattu added: "Three or four years ago it was different. But the council will only get involved in exceptional circumstances.

"I've raised this before and we've had clean-ups in the past, but we haven't got that funding anymore.

"I'm sympathetic with anyone that's suffered as a result of this."

In January this year, the Express & Star revealed thousands of complaints have been made to councils in the Black Country about fly-tipping.

In Wolverhampton, 3,162 cases were reported between April last year and January this year, while in Dudley there were 538 reports. Both figures were up on the previous year.

South Staffordshire, where there were 188 reports of fly-tipping, even launched a crackdown which saw vans stopped and searched by enforcement officers.