East Northants A605 earthworks to deter beauty spot fly-tippers

A notorious fly-tipping hotspot on the busy A605 between Thrapston and Oundle has been made inaccessible by earthworks to restrict vehicular access to woods.

The preventative measures have been installed to combat littering that has blighted the lay-by near Lilford Woods.

Waste enforcement officers from North Northamptonshire Council (NNC) worked with Northamptonshire Highways to first clear the site and then build an earth ‘bund’ which will restrict vehicle access.

Money for the project came from the Office of the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner from funding set aside for landowners who are suffering from fly tipping.

Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Stephen Mold said: “I have set aside funding that will go some way to providing the tools needed to deter fly-tippers and support landowners who find, often dangerous and hazardous waste, dumped on their land. The funding can be used to cover the cost of having fly-tipping removed, as well as to fund prevention measures to make land less vulnerable to fly-tippers in future.”

Since 2018 there have been 21 complaints of fly-tipping at the location. The team who cleared the site discovered waste including hundreds of full bin bags and empty oil cans.

Local authorities dealt with 1.13 million fly-tipping incidents in 2020/21.

Councillor Graham Lawman, NNC’s executive member for highways, travel and assets said: “It is a vital part of our work to detect and deter the selfish, thoughtless and anti-social actions of those who are causing a negative impact on our local communities by committing fly tipping offences.

“It’s unfortunate that we’ve had to take this action but we were left with little option given the frequency with which waste was being fly-tipped. I’d like to thank our partners for ensuring we could do this work.

“Where an offence has been committed, our teams will investigate thoroughly and provide offenders an opportunity to discuss the individual circumstances of each case and take the most appropriate enforcement action depending upon the circumstances.”

People are encouraged to log local fly-tipping hotspots and note number plates of vehicles seen dumping waste.

Councillor Jason Smithers, leader of NNC said: “NNC operates a zero-tolerance policy in relation to any incidents of environmental crime and officers will actively investigate any cases.“