\n This week, we’re continuing our fly-tipping investigation and focusing on Buttershaw and West Bowling.\n<\/p>\n
\n As mentioned in our last piece, fly-tipping affects the whole city, and wider Bradford district – and was described by a local councillor as a “massive problem” in his ward.\n<\/p>\n
\n This week, we also want to iron out some facts around access to Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRC).\n<\/p>\n
\n Many of our readers were concerned about access to these sites – colloquially referred to as “the tip.”\n<\/p>\n
\n HWRCs are local council-run facilities designed for residents to dispose of, reuse, or recycle household waste that cannot go in wheelie bins, all free-of-charge.\n<\/p>\n
\n They accept items like furniture, electricals, garden waste, but generally prohibit business waste.\n<\/p>\n
\n Fly-tipping in Buttershaw (Image: T&A)\n<\/p>\n
What councillor Tait had to say<\/p>\n
\n On the Buttershaw mess, Royds Ward Councillor Angela Tait said: “Fly-tipping is a blight in our communities, making areas look unsightly and uncared for.”\n<\/p>\n
\n She emphasised that it is a crime that carried hefty penalty notices, of up to \u00a31,000 and an unlimited fine and up to five years in prison.\n<\/p>\n
\n Vehicles used to commit offences can also be seized and crushed, she explained.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Residents must not use unlicensed waste carriers as they could be breaking the law too,” she said.\n<\/p>\n
\n Cllr Tait added that householders can be fined up to \u00a35,000 and end up with a criminal record if they ask someone to remove their rubbish and it is found to be fly-tipped.\n<\/p>\n
\n She urged residents to consider how they remove extra rubbish and encouraged them to utilise free household waste recycling sites.\n<\/p>\n
\n Mattresses dumped in West Bowling. (Image: T&A)\n<\/p>\n
But are there as many free waste recycling sites as there used to be?<\/p>\n
\n Three HWRCs have been closed in recent years – namely Ford Hill in Queensbury, Sugden End in Keighley and Golden Butts near Ilkley.\n<\/p>\n
\n Could it be that Bradford district residents now have reduced access to these key sites, or is it the case that someone with the mindset of a fly-tipper will dump their waste anywhere – regardless?\n<\/p>\n
\n The T&A went to Bradford Council for its response to this question, which is one many readers have been asking over recent months.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Like all councils across the country we have had to make very tough decisions to reduce the size of some of our services due to unprecedented financial challenges,” said the council spokesperson.\n<\/p>\n
\n “One of those decisions was to close three of our Household Waste Recycling Centres (Ford Hill in Queensbury, Sugden End in Keighley and Golden Butts near Ilkley) two years ago.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe chose these three sites as they were the least used of all the HWRCs in the district and their closure provided a saving of \u00a3900,000 per year.”\n<\/p>\n
Use risen by between 7 and 16 per cent<\/p>\n
\n It turns out that closing the “least used” of all the HWRCs not only saved nearly \u00a31 million a year, but also prompted more residents to use the remaining facilities.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cSince the closures, the number of people using the four of the remaining five HWRCs – Bowling Back Lane, Dealburn Road, Dowley Gap and Midland Road – has risen by between 7% and 16%,” they added.\n<\/p>\n
\n “At Royd Ings Keighley HWRC it has increased by 55%.\n<\/p>\n
\n “This is partly due to the closures and partly due to population growth.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThose who fly-tip are likely to fly-tip regardless of whether there is a HWRC nearby.\n<\/p>\n
\n “We would urge anyone who suspects or witnesses fly-tipping to contact us so we can investigate and take steps to remove if it’s on public land or work with landowners to help get it cleared if it’s on private land.”\n<\/p>\n
\n It’s worth noting that the fly-tipping pictured here on a strip of land by Bolling Hall Museum in West Bowling, is less than two miles from the nearest HWRC, on Bowling Back Lane.\n<\/p>\n
\n In other words, just a seven-minute drive.\n<\/p>\n
Fly-tipping on private land<\/p>\n
\n Another image captured in West Bowling (Image: T&A)\n<\/p>\n
\n On the back of images of Buttershaw and West Bowling provided to the council, the local authority added: \u201cThe fly-tipping, in both West Bowling and Buttershaw, is on private land which means that it is the landowners’ responsibility to get the waste removed.\n<\/p>\n
\n “We are currently engaging with the landowners to ensure that the waste is cleared.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cOur cleansing teams work hard to clear up reported incidences of fly-tipping and our environmental enforcement team will investigate and try to identify the perpetrators.\n<\/p>\n
\n “We use a range of measures to crack down on fly-tippers, including the use of cameras to deter offenders, capture vital evidence, and prevent further incidents.”\n<\/p>\n
Where to get rid of home waste in Bradford?<\/p>\n
\n Bradford residents wishing to dispose of household waste safely, and legally can visit one of the five remaining HWRCs.\n<\/p>\n
\n “All of our five remaining HWRCs are open Tuesday to Sunday, and opening hours can be found on our website – https:\/\/www.bradford.gov.uk\/recycling-and-waste\/household-waste-recycling-centres\/search-household-waste-sites\/,” said the council spokesperson.\n<\/p>\n
\n “We also provide a bulk waste collection service for larger items which people cannot take to HWRCs.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Details of this can be found here – https:\/\/www.bradford.gov.uk\/recycling-and-waste\/bulky-waste\/bulky-waste-collections\/\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This week, we’re continuing our fly-tipping investigation and focusing on Buttershaw and West Bowling. As mentioned in our…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":465607,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1397,90,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-465606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=465606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/465607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}