Community campaigner in crusade against eyesore South Yorkshire fly-tipping hotspot

Michael Sylvester says residents have been complaining about the dump site in Dalton for the last 12 months.

The former garage site, on Arundel Avenue, had a variety of garden, building and domestic rubbish dumped on it, prompting residents to contact independent campaigner Mr Sylvester after they say they complained to Rotherham Council to no avail.

On Mr Sylvester's Facebook page, one resident wote they had ‘been trying to get this cleaned up for the last 12 months, phone calls, emailing our ward councillors but to no avail’, with another stating they had ‘reported this months ago too’.

Mr Sylvester said: “It’s shocking that residents have had to live with this so long.

“It took a couple of chases after being reported to get action but is now cleaned to resident’s satisfaction.

“Assurances have also been given that this site will now be regularly monitored and cleared if needs with an aim to prosecute any tippers.

“Long term though, there needs to be a solution to improve this site such as the very good idea coming into place on East Herringthorpe where derelict garage sites are set to be replaced with bungalows using modern methods of construction.”

However, Rotherham Council said the fly tipping was only first reported in February.

Tom Smith, council assistant director for community safety and street scene, said: “The fly tipping at Arundel Avenue, Dalton was first reported on February 1, 2020.

"We investigated the land ownership and initially believed it wasn’t council-owned land. However, it was later identified to be the case.

"After discovering this, we removed the fly tipping on April 3, 2020.

“We apologise to residents for the length of time in dealing with the fly tipping in this location.

“There were no reports recorded by the council for fly tipping on this land in 2019. This site isn’t currently a designated hot spot area for fly tipping, so we will add it to the list for future inspections.”