A woman transformed fly-tipping near her home into ‘art’ in a bid to prompt her local council into action.

Mary Courtney noticed rubbish accumulating in the alleyway connecting Broomfield Road and Kensington Road in Coventry, on September 12.

Initially, the waste consisted solely of a bag of soda bottles filled with urine, but further items, including a pushchair, a broken doll and a trolley, built up over the subsequent three weeks.

Mary reported the problem to Coventry City Council and raised her concerns with local representatives, yet the rubbish remained in place.

Fed up with the lack of progress, she created a temporary art installation amongst the waste to draw attention to the issue, posting a photograph online and tagging a council member.

Councillor Patricia Hetherton responded immediately and, by the next morning, the pile had been cleared.

An assortment of discarded items, including a cardboard box, a blue cloth, and a plastic container, is scattered on the ground, adjacent to a brick wall.

Mary said: “Fly-tipping is such a depressing scourge- I was getting really frustrated that nothing was being done.

“Especially since it’s a bio-hazard having urine there like that!”.

“Ultimately I wanted to go through the proper, official routes, but when those didn’t work, I’m glad art could be the final nudge needed to make change.”

Following her initial discovery of the urine bottles, Mary logged the issue on the FixMyStreet website but claimed little headway was made.

Mary said: “I continued on what felt like this non-stop campaign to get this rubbish removed.

“But I kept either not getting a response or being told that it wasn’t the council’s responsibility.”

An image depicts a green refuse container placed against a brick wall, accompanied by scattered garbage and litter, including plastic bags and various waste materials, on the pavement.

Mary shared photographs of the rubbish on her social media on Wednesday (September 30), where someone in the comments recommended she create an art installation to highlight the problem.

She said: “I woke up the next morning with an idea fresh in my head, having seen a broken doll added to the pile.

“I found a manky piece of cardboard in my recycling and used paint sticks from the central library to write out this poem of despair.”

A pink sign with colorful lettering and a drawing of a bottle and a glass is placed amidst a collection of discarded materials, including plastic bags and other refuse, suggesting an area affected by littering and waste disposal issues.

In a “fury of frustration”, Mary uploaded an image of her placard positioned beside the doll amongst the fly-tipped waste and tagged local councillor, Patricia Hetheron.

Mary ventured down the alleyway the following morning while heading to the shops and was delighted to discover the pathway cleared of debris.

She said: “Patricia Hetherton got in touch almost immediately after I posted the art installation on Facebook.

“Then, the next morning, the rubbish was gone.

“I was so happy to see the area clear again!”

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