Rural fly-tipping getting worse, says farmer
BBCA Shropshire livestock farmer has said he has seen "repeated cases of fly-tipping" on his farm, which seem to be getting worse.
Richard Yates from Bridgnorth said he had seen everything from general rubbish to builders' waste, garden waste, tyres, and chemicals dumped on his land.
He told the BBC that before Christmas a dead foal had been left on his property, which he reported to police.
"We note numbers, I made one citizen's arrest, I wouldn't advocate that as a line of action but I felt I needed to do it at the time, there's only so much we can take," he said.
"Often it's off the back roads and they pull in, get away pretty quickly, dump their stuff.
"I've had some adjacent to the A442 which is a very, very busy Bridgnorth to Telford road, a couple of instances over winter of builders' waste or garden waste just dumped."
He said many farmers were taking matters into their own hands by doing things like putting large tree trunks in gateways so that people could not fly-tip.
"It's pretty annoying because it's my responsibility now to tidy it up," he said.
He also said the threat of the issue made farmers hyper-vigilant, and saw them using neighbourhood watch groups to report suspicious vehicles.
Yates added that farmers felt supported by police and appreciated their resources were "spread thinly", and said he would welcome more prosecutions for this type of rural crime.
On Monday, the National Farmers' Union (NFU) welcomed plans by the Environment Agency to introduce a new package of surveillance and investigative measures to stop fly-tipping.
It includes 33 drones to track down illegal dumps from the air - some of which will carry laser mapping technology.
Also developed is a new screening tool that will enable officers to scan and cross-check lorry licence applications against waste permit records, with suspect operators flagged before they have a chance to move waste illegally.
The NFU said the announcement showed "real intent" but also called on more penalties to deter offenders as well as a single reporting system, and more public awareness of household waste responsibilities.
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