These are the mountains of rubbish dumped at a beauty spot in what has been described as some of Croydon's worst ever fly-tipping.

Litter louts broke through "totally inadequate" council security to leave huge piles of trash in Sunken Road, near Addington Hills.

Waste remained strewn along most of the road, neary Coombe Lane tram stop, yesterday on Tuesday. It was reported to the council on Saturday.

Richard Cheetam, who lives nearby, said he believed travellers had dumped it. He said: "This is the worst tipping I have ever seen in seven years of living in the area.

"I am absolutely shocked to find that a group of travellers have been able to create utter chaos and environmental damage.

He added: "There are barriers up to supposedly stop the travellers from camping on this road, but this happens many times every year.

"The security is totally inadequate and they have made a horrendous mess that needs to be cleaned up at tax payer's expense.

Your Local Guardian:

Your Local Guardian:

Your Local Guardian:

'Utter chaos': the waste was strewn across 300m

"This could have been avoided if the security was more than just a padlock that can be cut off with bolt cutters and this needs to change so this cannot happen again."

The council said it had broken up an illegal encampment on Sunken Road and would now look to take the fly-tippers to court.

It also warned people or businesses that have waste collected could be liable for fines if it ends up dumped illegally.

A council spokesman said: "The council moved an illegal encampment of around 15 caravans on after just two days, but this mess is what was left behind and we are now in the process of clearing up.

"Our initial investigations have identified evidence of where some of the rubbish may have come from and we are pursuing these leads now.

"The security gates at this location were put in several years ago but we are considering replacing them with a different design which could reduce the chance of this happening again in the future."

Your Local Guardian:

Your Local Guardian:

Your Local Guardian:

The council is still working to clean up the mess

He added: "Ideally we want to prosecute the fly-tippers themselves, but our investigations may also potentially result in the people whose waste this was receiving fines as it is their responsibility to ensure anything they have collected for removal is going to be properly disposed of.

"This is why we always recommend checking waste removal firms have the proper licence from the Environment Agency and getting a formal receipt."

In October, travellers were blamed for fly-tipping and vandalising cars in Lion Green Road in Coulsdon, while City of London staff collected two truck-loads of rubbish after evicting travellers from Riddlesdown Common in May.

In December, Croydon Council announced almost £100,000 of additional funding to tackle fly-tipping in response to concerns from residents.

According to council statistics, there were 11,150 instances of fly-tipping in the borough last year.
 


TODAY'S TOP STORIES