Numerous incidents of fly tipping slammed by locals

AN increase of fly-tipping has been reported in Strabane and the surrounding area, during the time of the ongoing strike action by council workers.

In the past few days evidence has emerged of rubbish being dumped at Beechmount Avenue outside the new housing development and opposite a children’s play park. Meanwhile, in the Head of the Town area more bags were dumped, again outside a children’s play park.

In Beechmount Avenue the refuge bags burst, leaving the road strewn with rubbish and broken glass, which was cleared away by a local resident concerned for children’s safety.

Following the local dumping Derry City and Strabane District Council has been urged to ‘sort out fair pay’ for the striking workforce, which includes refuse collectors.

Cheryl Bogle, a resident living close to the Beechmount site, has labelled the current situation ‘a disgrace’.

“People leaving rubbish on the streets is disgusting,” she remarked. “Yes, there is a strike going on at the moment which means bins aren’t getting emptied, but everyone is in the same boat. We can’t leave our community looking like this. We all have to live here. One resident was forced to go out and brush the glass away themselves to make sure no-one got harmed.

“To be fair, the council are usually very responsive when I have reported things in the past and, had there not been a strike, then the rubbish wouldn’t have been left where it was, but it still isn’t right to just dump your rubbish wherever you want.”

Head of the Town resident Mícheál Mac Lochlainn also raised concerns, saying it was ‘totally unacceptable’ that someone saw fit to dump domestic waste outside a play park. However he was also in solidarity with the strikers, adding, “No doubt we all stand behind the refuse collectors and their legitimate demands. Time for council to pay their workers.”

A spokesperson for council confirmed it has received reports of fly tipping at a number of sites around the Strabane area including the former Adria Factory site where a team will investigate in the coming days. The same spokesperson also emphasised that it is an offence to dump indiscriminately and doing so can lead to a fine or court prosecution.

They said, “During this week’s strike action our waste enforcement team are operating as normal to respond to incidents of fly tipping however there have been delays due to the high volume of calls.

“The public can report incidents at derrystrabane.com/flytipping.”