- Image by Zach K via Flickr
Houses in Hatton, Warwick, England face the risk of flood after flytippers clogged a vital overflow ditch with hundreds of abandoned tyres.
The culvert at Brownleigh Green Lane, near the Waterman pub, has been visited by Warwick District Council environment officers who have spent hours trying to clear the blockage. The ditch is used as a vital overflow area for an active stream, with the tyres present and the ditch blocked the flood water heads straight for Hatton.
In 2006 the area was subject to bad floods when blocked drains caused the stream to overflow. It took up to 18 months for the area to recover.
A resident told the local newspaper, “Our neighbours were badly flooded because people stick things in this beck. It is horrendous.”
The council needed 15 hours of manual labour to drag each one of the 470 old car tyres from the overflow area. Another 80 were found in Red House Farm Lane about a mile away.
A spokesman for Warwick District Council defended the lack of local recycling facilities, “Unfortunately tyres in such volume cannot be tipped locally at the civic amenity site and arrangements with Warwickshire County Council needed to be made to tip on their account at a site near Gloucestershire.
“No additional cost was incurred as the teams are paid for as part of the council’s Integrated Waste Contract.
“Flytipping is a serious offence that incurs considerable costs to local tax payers.”
In Pure Spirit
Is flytipping a problem in your area? What sort of legal response do you think would be appropriate for any company caught tipping this quantity of tyres in the countryside?
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