Dumped horse manure and rubbish kicking up a stink in Tipton walkway
Bags of rubbish, rusting shopping trolleys and piles of horse manure has been dumped along a walkway near homes in Tipton.
And now the pile of waste has been causing a stink for councillors who say the clean-up bill will cost thousands.
Sandwell Council has already spent more than £4,000 of taxpayer's money to clean up the land at the back of Hawthorn Road.
And the bill is likely to spiral as specialist contractors will have to be brought in to clear away the manure as it is classed as hazardous waste.
Councillor Joanne Hadley, town lead for Tipton, and Councillor Stephen Jones said they had been left stunned at manure being dumped so close to homes.
They say they are also concerned for the conditions that horses have been living in found tethered on the land.
Councillor Hadley said: "It is a disgraceful situation.
"This could be a really nice walkway as there is plenty of green space and it is used by people in the community.
"However at the moment it looks like the OK Corral here. It is disgusting to have this rubbish and manure piled up like this.
"I have had to sign off on £4,000 so work can take place to remove this rubbish. That is money we are having to use which could have gone on something else to benefit the community of Tipton.
"It is terrible people are dumping waste like this."
Councillor Hadley said now the money had been signed off work to remove the waste was expected to begin shortly.
And she said the authority would be looking at developing a long-term solution to the problem.
"At the moment we may win the battle by clearing this land up but lose the war if we cannot find a way of preventing this from happening again.
"We will be looking at measures to combat this problem."
She said the problem with rubbish being dumped along the route had been ongoing for some time.
Councillor Jones added: "We are concerned for the horses that have been tethered around there and those conditions they must be in with this there.
"It is a health hazard to have the green space contaminated. It is down to irresponsible horse ownership.
"People will have to wear contamination suits to clean this up."
