Fly-tipping anger as skip site is closed

Residents claim that they are being forced to fly-tip their rubbish after a weekly amenity skip was temporarily closed.

The skip, which is sited at Church Stretton's coach park, has been closed to allow Network Rail to carry out maintenance on a nearby section of track.

But many say the closure has caused problems for elderly residents who regularly take their rubbish in wheelbarrows to the site.

One resident, who declined to be named, said they did not want to drive to the waste site at Craven Arms, adding to traffic and pollution, as well as wasting petrol.

And one housewife claimed she had no choice but to dump an old cooker on the side of the road.

She said she could not take it to Craven Arms because she did not have room in the car for her children and the cooker.

She said: "I am not a person to fly-tip, but if the council failed to carry out their obligations to me than I will do the same to them."

However, Shropshire Council said there was no excuse for fly-tipping.

Gareth Proffitt, council spokesman, said: "Household waste can be disposed of at the Craven Arms household recycling centre, and for bulky items there are charitable furniture schemes who will collect items from your home."

Councillor Bob Welch, Church Stretton town mayor, said he did not want one irresponsible person to detract from the fact that residents could have benefited from more notice.

He said: "Should this happen again we, as a town council, would wish to have more adequate notice and the residents would also appreciate adequate notice to avoid the inconvenience caused on this occasion."

Mr Proffitt said: "As soon as our waste team became aware of the site closure we arranged for our contractor Veolia to put up signs to inform residents.

"We apologise to residents for any inconvenience caused during this unavoidable and temporary disruption to the service."

By Sophie Bignall