Ghastly view! Anything we can do?

KMK

Perhaps I could get some advice about the above problem. We live in a pleasant street in a small seaside village. The house opposite to ours belongs to a builder, a seemingly nice chap who always speaks when we meet.

He has begun to use his front garden as a kind of makeshift tip with skips being left there for weeks on end with rubbish being brought there from his current place of work. So we are now looking across at an overflowing skip with black bags, old mattresses and building rubble strewn around. One night last week other builders pulled up and dumped more rubbish into the skip. There is no gate on his garden so our daily view is of this mounting pile of rubbish, which is very unsightly.

Is there anything we can do? The skip and rubbish is on his land but in full view of the street and our front windows. I was going to try asking him to remove it but where do I stand legally with all this?

rdp1980

Sounds to me like he is using his residential property for business purposes, the council may be interested if you want to report him.

Also there are regulations on disposal of waste and carrying waste, so again the council may be interested in that side of it.

Yorkie1

Plus environmental health if you think there may be vermin ...

KMK

Thank you for your advice. I did wonder if I should contact the council . I would rather not make it official but I might have to.

If I did contact them would my name be quoted? He would probably work out it was me anyway, because my house is the only one looking directly at the wretched skip.

So perhaps I need to approach him first and risk a hostile response before making it official. At least it gives him a chance to do something about it. Or am I being incurably optimistic?

rdp1980

A quiet polite word is much less likely to get his back up than a call from the council, so I would try that first. If it's not sorted in a reasonable timescale (perhaps agreed with him upfront) then get on to the council.

paddedjohn

A quiet word will be more likely to get his back up especially if he does nothing and you then have to ring the council. Just get on the phone to your town hall and tell them whats going on, you dont have to leave your name you could even say you live in the next road but walk past this mess every day.

tigeress289

Paddedjohn, has it spot on. Others in your road are more than likely thinking the same. You have a word and he will think its you al the time, even if someone else reports it. The council act as an authority and they would not disclose who reported it. From he's point of view, the skip is cheaper to leave on he's premises, rather than the sites he is working on. It might be just as much an eyesore to him but there must be a reason for him doing it?

gallygirl

paddedjohn wrote: »

A quiet word will be more likely to get his back up especially if he does nothing and you then have to ring the council. Just get on the phone to your town hall and tell them whats going on, you dont have to leave your name you could even say you live in the next road but walk past this mess every day.

I agree - he will know it is unsightly so doesn't need it pointed out. If he was the type to act on what you said he would not have done it in the 1st place IFSWIM. 'Local resident' walking past would be my option.

However, try to remember 'We live in a pleasant street in a small seaside village' - dwell on that and avoid looking out of your front window as much as you can. Concentrate on the positives of your lovely location. I'm 90 miles from the sea .

Browntoa

I've reported this sort of thing to mine , they asked if I wanted to give my details so they could keep me informed but it was not compulsory

my councils web site has an online form for reporting

curchep

Hi - I've used this website to report issues to my local council. Plus I was pleasantly surprised to find out it actually worked:
http://www.fixmystreet.com/

KMK

Thank you so much for taking the trouble to get back to me with so many useful suggestions and ideas. I don't want to make an enemy of my neighbour but I am not looking forward to the sight of that overflowing skip all summer!