'Under siege': Fly-tippers dump huge mounds of waste near Wednesbury football field
Fly-tippers have dumped huge mounds of rubbish next to a football field in Wednesbury which is used by local sports teams.
The rubbish, which includes rubble, old carpets and other household waste, was dumped on a car park on private land in Bentley Road South earlier this week.
The land belongs to Greg Yates and his family, who now potentially faces a huge bill to get the site cleaned up.
The 58-year-old, who lives at the site, near to where the rubbish was dumped, said: “The car park is adjacent to a football field which is used by local teams.
“We woke up on Monday to find one tipping and on Tuesday we discovered a second tipping had been made.
“There’s no guarantee that they won’t come back again. The waste looks like it’s come from some sort of house clearance; the old carpets, rubble, underlay.
“We’ve been in touch with Walsall Council but they have said it is private land. They will remove the rubbish for a price. I don’t know how much they will charge yet.”
Mr Yates said he was now considering putting security gates at the top of the private drive, which will leave him further out of pocket.
“The football will be able to continue but we will have to be careful who accesses the land in the future,” he added.
“It’s such a shame we have been pushed into this situation.
“It’s intimidating in some ways. It feels like we are under siege at the moment.”
Mr Yates added: “ If trades weren’t charged for taking rubbish to the tip, this sort of thing would be solved. Rubbish could be recycled in the proper manner by professionals and whatever revenue is lost is surely outweighed by the savings local authorities would make having to remove fly-tipping from public areas.”
Walsall Council said: “In this instance, the landowner would ultimately be responsible for removing the waste as it is on private land. The cost for the council to remove it would depend on the type and volume of waste.”
