An abandoned patch of land underneath a flyover in the centre of Cardiff has been left carpeted in filth by flytippers.
Sofas, baths, wardrobes, mattresses and mounds of other discarded items can be seen strewn across the site, which lies under the City Link flyover next to the Tyndall Street roundabout which links the Cardiff Bay, the city centre, Adamsdown and Splott.
Rail passengers travelling into the city on the mainline from Newport can see the piles of broken bikes, children’s toys and car tyres – all tangled together with garden waste and electric cables as the approach Cardiff Central railway station. Crumpled and half-erected tents as well as mattresses are scattered throughout the area.
In one part of the site, vast amounts of building material including skirting boards, window frames, bricks and sacks of insulation material have been dumped. In another part, an assortment of chairs and a round table and a have been set up away from the main area of refuse, on top of which sits an empty beer bottle.
This large area of abandoned waste stretches out alongside the adjacent railway track fence. At least part of the site is currently owned by Cardiff council itself.
See more pictures of the wasteland in this gallery:
A spokesperson for Cardiff council would not respond to the specific flytipping and its ownership of the site off Tyndall Street but issued a statement condemning flytipping.
They said: “Fly-tipping is completely unnecessary; it damages the environment and costs the taxpayer a significant amount of money each year. The Council’s preferred option when dealing with small scale fly tipping is the use of Fixed Penalty Notices rather than prosecuting through the court. Taking these matters to court can be very expensive and often the penalty given by the court does not justify the cost incurred.
“Since the powers were adopted in August 2018, 363 fixed penalty notices of £400 have been issued and eleven cases prosecuted through the courts and we will continue to investigate these matters, as fly tipping is a blight on the communities that we all live in.”
A report published by the Welsh Government in December 2021 revealed that fly-tipping has increased by 22% across Wales in the past year, and that Cardiff was the top area in Wales for issuing fixed penalty notices to tackle the problem. In February 2022, a man was fined almost £1,000 for fly-tipping a number of recycling and rubbish bags in Leckwith.
A spokesperson for Cardiff council said: “If you are paying for someone to remove waste from your home, ensure that they are registered to do so, or you could end up in court. Every business has a duty of care to dispose of their waste responsibly.
"Every business carrying waste has to be licensed by Natural Resources of Wales and has to carry a Waste Transfer Notice to show where the waste is being taken from and which licensed facility the waste is being brought to. We frequently carry out patrols with partner organisations and stop and request documentation from people carrying waste in their vehicle and this will continue. The council does have a number of infrared cameras which are used in fly tipping hotspots across the city.
“The message to those who continue to ruin the environment that we all live in is, stop, if you get caught you will either received a fixed penalty notice or face court action with a possible fine of up to £50,000 or six months imprisonment depending on the severity of the case.
“If anyone witnesses fly tipping in their community, we advise that you don’t make contact with those who are carrying it out but take details of the time, location and the registration details of the vehicle and report it to the C2C on 02920 872087.”
