Shocking photos show a pile of fly-tipped rubbish dumped in an Oldham cul-de-sac.
Neighbour Quentin Crooks said he is ‘sick to the back teeth’ of the rat-infested mess outside his house.
The homeowner, who has lived in Werneth for more than 20 years, has reported the issue to Oldham Council - but t
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“I live right by Wellington Road so I see it all the time - it’s just filthy,” Quentin, 51, told the Manchester Evening News.
“It’s not just an environmental health hazard - it’s dangerous. There’s broken furniture, dead rats, dumped beds, broken glass and who knows what else there.”
While on a walk with his friend earlier this week, Quentin said he spotted a recent pile of dumped waste - which included a chest drawer with a single VHS tape inside claiming to feature a New Year's Day Concert from Vienna.
Quentin said: “When I’ve reported things to Oldham Council before, they’ve told me that if I think there might be something suspicious there then I should take it to the police but I'm not prepared to touch anything like that.
“I don’t know what’s on that video tape and I'm certainly not, on the council’s advice, taking it to the police.”
Quentin said the problem is it's an "unadopted road" - which, according to the Highways Act, means local authorities do not need to maintain it.
“The unadopted line does not wash with me,” Quentin said.
“If it had gates then I'd accept it was an unadopted, private road but that’s not the case.
“They call it an unadopted road but there’s access from the two main roads that run parallel to it so people use it quite frequently.
“There’s a school nearby and the children are very often walking down it, as do women with prams and the general public.
“People are using this road to go from one point to another and you can see how it’s becoming a hotspot for fly-tipping and it’s just getting worse and worse.”
Quentin explained how the state of the road is now causing him to lose pride in where he lives and says it’s often an embarrassment to bring friends round.
“It’s shameful,” he explains.
“It’s very stressful and it becomes something where you don't want to bring people back to where you live because it looks like a dumping ground.
“I accept that people will dump stuff but that road is seriously becoming dangerous - especially with dead rats there.”
He says there is also a wall within the wall that he believes is ‘very close’ to collapsing and could cause injury if someone is nearby at the same time.
He says: “If that wall falls on someone, it will kill them and I am not exaggerating.
“The council has come down and put a metal fence up against it but the wall is still leaning and it’s only a matter of time before that comes down.
“It’s in a really bad way - it’s a threat to life.”
Quentin says Oldham Council have been down to Wellington Road on a number of occasions to clean the dumped waste, but he feels more needs to be done to stop it from being a regular occurrence.
Quentin explains: “They have been down a few times but will usually shift the bulk - like the big sofas - and leave the rest there.
“The council has put signs on the lamppost saying if people are caught fly-tipping then they will be fined but it does nothing.
“It’s a beautiful road when it’s clean.
“It is disgraceful and I am sick to the back teeth of it.”
Oldham Council said it was investigating the fly-tipped rubbish on Wellington Road - alongside similar issues with other unadopted roads across the borough.
Councillor Amanda Chadderton, Deputy Leader of Oldham Council and Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods, said: “We understand the frustration of residents as fly tipping is an eyesore and can be a health hazard.
“That’s why we launched Don’t Trash Oldham - a borough-wide clean-up campaign which has also seen more street cleaners, fly-tipping enforcement teams and enforcement officers employed.
“Don’t Trash Oldham is making a difference, as residents are telling us so.
“Unfortunately the issue of waste being dropped on unadopted is an issue across the country, not just in Oldham.
“The council doesn’t own this land but we are taking steps to resolve the issue.
“We will investigate and then clear it up – sadly with council tax payers ultimately footing the bill.
“We only have a small team and they can’t be everywhere at once.
“If residents see fly-tipping please report it to us and if we can link it to someone we will take action.
“Since we started the Don’t Trash Oldham campaign 231 people have been given fines for various environmental crimes.”
You can report fly-tipping to Oldham Council via their website here.
