Probe fails to find those responsible for fly-tip

An investigation has failed to establish who was responsible for a massive mound of fly-tipped rubbish, a local authority said.

South Norfolk Council (SNC) announced its officers were looking into who had dumped the waste on land between a recycling centre and a traveller site near Harford last summer.

Satellite images show rubbish strewn across a wide area in a field next to the Norwich South Recycling Centre and Brooks Green site after June 2023.

The Environment Agency said it was a council matter, but Ben Goldsborough, Labour MP for South Norfolk, said he was worried that bodies were "passing the buck" over who was responsible.

Pallets, mounds of wood chips, electrical appliances, building materials and metal sheets have all been left there.

So far, the council has not received any evidence from the landowner, Barry Brooks, to identify who is responsible.

People living in Brooks Green, a plot of about eight pitches managed by Broadland Housing, said they did not know who was responsible either.

Brooks donated the land to create the traveller site next door in 2009, and it was named after him, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

He has been approached for comment.

The plot of land sits next to the A47 in Harford and is only accessible along a private road, located off Short Road.

A spokesman for SNC said: "If the landowner can supply evidence of who is responsible, we will investigate and we will work with landowners.

"Unfortunately, it is the landowner's responsibility to remove the waste unless we can find those responsible."

A spokeswoman for Broadland Housing said it was not the landowner of the site and that it did not know who had been fly-tipping on the adjacent field.

"However, as our site is next door, we have been talking to the landowners on how we may be able to help," she added.

The Environment Agency said the scale of the fly-tipping was not significant enough to warrant its officers' involvement and that it was a district council issue.

Goldsborough said: "People who live near fly-tipping hotspots deserve to know the mess will be cleared quickly and properly. They should not be left chasing answers.

"Unfortunately, cases where the Environment Agency and councils pass the buck are all too familiar.

The MP urged anyone affected to contact him, and he would make sure "their voices are heard".

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