Councillor's anger as town's fly tipping continues

Welshpool’s new county councillor has reacted angrily to more reports of fly tipping in the town, describing it as ‘unacceptable.’

Piles of rubbish are regularly appearing at a recycling area in a section of Tesco store car park and this week bins were over loaded, with piles of bin bags filling the area.

Powys and Town Councillor Graham Breeze, likened the incident to fly tipping in Berriew Street car park last year, which caused an infestation of rats, and said the mess was ‘unacceptable’ and warned that offenders would be reported.

Councillor Breeze, who is chairman of Welshpool Town Council’s Services Committee said: “It is disappointing that people are still fly tipping and dumping. I believe there is no excuse for it when you have the Household Waste Recycling Centre just around the corner, where these items can be recycled.

“People should be using that, but they are not and it is appalling really. The town’s recycling centre is there for situations like this, when bins are full, and it is unacceptable that fly tipping is happening.”

“The Town Council has taken over the street scene in Welshpool and I can’t speak highly enough of the hard work and dedication of the staff who have taken on these new duties.

“There have been several incidents of fly tipping in the town in recent weeks and we have been able to identify and warn offenders.

“But we are not going to be taken advantage of. Fly tipping is an offence and in the future we will be reporting incidents and recommending prosecutions,” he added.

Fly tipping has been a hot topic within the county over the last few months, and Powys County Council, has warned if people are caught fly tipping, they will be  investigated.

Powys County Council’s Portfolio Holder John Powell said it was disappointing to be using tax payers’ money to clear up the excess rubbish from the Tesco site.

He said: “Anyone who leaves rubbish at community recycling sites is committing the offence of fly-tipping. We will investigate incidents and carry out the appropriate enforcement action where necessary.

“It is extremely disappointing that taxpayers’ money will be used to clear the rubbish up from this site, especially when there is a household waste and recycling centre less than a mile away.

“If any of the recycling banks at the community recycling sites are full, we would ask residents to contact the council immediately so we can arrange for the containers to be emptied.

“Residents should also take their recycling back home with them and not leave it at the side of the banks.”

A spokesperson for Tesco also urged the public to respect the area, adding: “Our colleagues and contractors work hard to ensure the bin area is free from rubbish at our Welshpool superstore, making sure that all recycling and rubbish is collected promptly.

“However, our efforts to ensure that it is free from rubbish are hampered when we experience incidents of fly-tipping, as we have on a number of occasions recently.

“We would ask that people respect the facilities and only use them in the proper way as this will help us to keep the area presentable at all times.”