Residents' 'despair' at rise in fly-tipping on famous moors

"There is a never-ending stream of fast food waste, bottles, cans and dog poo bags. Fly-tipping is too much for our volunteers to clear, and we rely on reporting to the council to clear and investigate."

Chris Creighton is from Litter Free Ilkley, a group of litter-picking volunteers who focus their efforts in and around the famous West Yorkshire town.

Creighton says he and other members of the group have shared photos of fly-tipping incidents and have reported them to the council - but have then sometimes ended up clearing it away themselves.

Fly-tipped rubbish has even been found high up on the much-loved moors surrounding Ilkley.

Creighton says that seeing such piles of fly-tipped rubbish, which he and other members of the group believe is becoming increasingly frequent, "does make you despair about who is deliberately dumping waste in this way".

His comments come nearly two years after the closure of three household waste recycling centres in Bradford, which sparked much opposition from local residents.

The sites - in Queensbury, Ilkley and Sugden End in Keighley - were shut in March 2024, with Bradford Council claiming at the time it would save £900,000 per year.

But two years on from them shutting their gates, their closure remains a hot topic, amid claims it has led to increased fly-tipping such as that spotted by the Ilkley volunteers.

Meanwhile, the closures have left some residents facing a 22-mile (35km) round-trip to their nearest tip - increasing car journey times and, in turn, emissions due to those journeys.

One fly-tipping incident saw about 20 bin bags full of what appeared to be household waste dumped at Keighley Gate on Ilkley Moor on 31 January.

Litter Free Ilkley says members reported the incident, but before the council had managed to clear it, the wind had blown lots of rubbish across the heather, leaving volunteers to clear the remnants away.

One of those opposing the tip closures at the time was Keighley and Ilkley Conservative MP Robbie Moore.

He led a campaign to keep open the tip on Golden Butts Road in Ilkley and he launched a petition against the closures which was signed by at least 10,000 people.

He says that at the time the closures were approved, "Bradford Council ignored us and pushed ahead regardless".

"Labour councillors even voted against an amendment that would have kept the tips open while balancing the budget," he says.

Moore adds that since the closures, he has received "a huge amount of feedback from residents across the district reporting significant increases in fly-tipping".

Ilkley resident Judith Clarkson says she used to use the Ilkley tip "literally every week" and its closure has "made no sense".

She says that closure had undoubtedly led to more rubbish being fly-tipped in the area.

"We have definitely noticed more fly-tipping all around Ilkley," she explains.

"I've had friends commenting on the fly-tipping on the moor, and I've seen it for myself in the car park at the supermarket.

"It just feels so counter for the council to close the tip when we are all supposed to be recycling more.

"How is it environmentally-friendly to go all the way to Keighley to go to the tip?"

Meanwhile, Sandy and Donald McRae, who also live in Ilkley, say they have been "hugely affected" by the tip closure.

Sandy McRae says: "At the minute, we have lots of stuff outside that should go to the tip, but we can't take it because it isn't there.

"So, we have lots of bricks all stacked up down by the garage. To take them, we would have to go to Keighley and it's using petrol, so it's counter-productive isn't it?"

Donald McRae adds: "It always seems to be really busy, there are always queues to get in.

"Stuff which really ought to go to recycling is getting put into the bin, so there are bits of metal and things like that."

Responding, Bradford Council says it was forced to reduce some services due to "unprecedented financial challenges".

"We chose these three sites as they were the least used of all the household waste recycling centres (HWRCs) in the district," according to a spokesperson.

"Their closure provided a saving of £900,000 per year."

The council spokesperson says that since the closures of the three tips, the number of people using four of the district's remaining five HWRCs - Bowling Back Lane, Dealburn Road, Dowley Gap and Midland Road - has "risen by between 7% and 16%".

"At Roy Ings Keighley HWRC it has increased by 55%. This is partly due to the closures and partly due to population growth," they add.

The spokesperson says that fly-tipping incidents increased from 18,492 before the tip closures in 2023-24 to 19,697 in 2024-25.

So far in the current financial year to January 2026, the number of reports received was 13,316.

Meanwhile, Bradford Council says that people who fly-tip will do so regardless of whether there is a tip nearby.

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