Flytippers hit reserve '“ again

Fly tippers have again targeted one of Fleetwood's beauty spots '“ and this time it is worse than ever.
Some of the items dumped at Jameson Road in the latest fly tipping incident there.Some of the items dumped at Jameson Road in the latest fly tipping incident there.
Some of the items dumped at Jameson Road in the latest fly tipping incident there.

The shameless offenders left an unsightly sprawl of rubbish scattered across Jameson Road just a few yards from the much-loved Fleetwood Marsh nature reserve at the end of the road.

Discarded items such as two old microwaves, a fridge freezer, several black bags, various suitcases, an iron, an old gas canister and a couple of desks were left strewn across the road.

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Fleetwood Town Council member, Coun Rita Hewitt, says more effective ways must be found to prevent and also catch the offenders, given that this road is being targeted time and again by the tippers.

Coun Rita HewittCoun Rita Hewitt
Coun Rita Hewitt

Those found guilty of such offending can be hit with a hefty fine of £400, and if the waste is deemed hazardous the money demanded can be much higher and the penalty even include imprisonment.

But catching the culprits is not always easy and prosecutions are rare.

The last fly tipping incident at Jameson Road was just a few weeks ago, back in October, and rubbish dumped then has still not been fully removed.

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Coun Hewitt said she was informed about the latest incident, which occurred over the weekend, by disgusted residents in her Mount ward constituency and stated: “It’s absolutely appalling.

Coun Rita HewittCoun Rita Hewitt
Coun Rita Hewitt

“Fleetwood is lucky to have a lovely nature reserve but this casts the town in a bad light, it looks terrible.

“We need a way for the various parties involved with this land to work together against this sort of thing and we need to look again at working CCTV being installed.”

Coun Hewitt was set to meet Lancashire County Council officials this week to discuss solutions to the problem.

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Jurisdiction over Jameson Road is complicated - the first part of the road is overseen by road authority Lancashire County Council but the part near the reserve is owned by James Parr, who says he has often removed rubbish dumped by tippers and calls for Wyre to install CCTV.

The nature reserve is a County Council facility, while Wyre Council is the local authority covering the area and United Utilities has a wastewater works off part of the road.

A Wyre Council spokeswoman said: “We encourage residents to report fly tipping which can be done at wyre.gov.uk/reportflytipping. We rely on information from members of the public and businesses to tackle the problem. We also work with landowners to ensure they clean up promptly and follow up investigations when fly tipping takes place on private land. If caught, the people responsible for the fly tipping will be issued a fix penalty of up to £400. However if the fly tip costs more than £400 to clean up or contains hazardous waste, Wyre Council will take them to court where those responsible can be fined an unlimited amount of money and possibly face imprisonment.”