The fly tipping on Brentwood Road in Essex between The Halfway House and Thorndon Country Park. (Image: Brentwood Borough Council / SWNS)
A shocking photograph has captured 20 tonnes of fly-tipped rubbish left on a busy road, prompting outrage from local officials. The rubbish was unceremoniously dumped at 8.34pm on 5 February, blocking one lane of Brentwood Road in Essex, near The Halfway House and Thorndon Country Park.
The latest figures from the Environment Department (Defra) indicate that English local authorities encountered over 1.15 million instances of fly-tipping in the year 2023/24. Councillor David Worsfold, who serves as the Vice-Chair of the Clean and Green Committee for Brentwood Borough Council, has condemned the illegal dumping as “criminal on an industrial scale”.
He expressed his shock: “I was horrified and outraged when I was shown a photo of this fly tip – it’s criminal on an industrial scale and we estimate this fly tip was about 20 tonnes of waste.”
He continued to highlight the issue, saying: “Fly tipping is a crime that damages our environment and drains public resources.”
He added that the perpetrators are organised, with enforcement teams collaborating with Essex Police to catch and prosecute them: “The criminals that commit these fly tips are well organised, and our enforcement teams work closely with Essex Police to gather evidence so hopefully we can identify the culprits and prosecute them.”
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This shocking picture shows 20 tonnes of fly-tipped rubbish on a main road as a councillor brands the mess as an ‘outrage’. (Image: Brentwood Borough Council / SWNS)
The council is determined to combat the problem with technological measures, as Worsfold stated: “We are continuing to invest in high quality CCTV in fly tipping hotspots to give ourselves and the police the evidence that is needed for successful prosecutions.”
He hopes these steps will also act as a deterrent: “We also hope that the knowledge that these cameras will catch the culprits will send out a strong deterrent message.”
A police investigation into this environmental crime has been initiated.
Following the news that a cyclist, seriously injured after colliding with a heap of fly-tipped waste, remains hospitalised five months later, Essex Police were summoned to Lincolns Lane, Pilgrims Hatch, near Brentwood just after 5pm on September 18 last year. A man in his 30s was apprehended on suspicion of posing a danger to road users in relation to the incident and has since been released on bail.