Flytipping woes

phil24_7

Cool. I realise that what I wrote might have seemed rude or curt, or at the very least abrupt but it wasn't intended to be so. If the back of your house looked appealing/cared for then others would be less inclinded to disrespect it too I think. You could do it in stages so that it doesn't impose too much on your time or disposable income.

1. First off clear the weeds/overgrowth.
2. Then fix and paint your back door (or replace if it a standard size as this may work out cheaper/easier).
3. Then paint all of your masonry fronting onto the lane.
4. Then fix and paint the garage door (you can get dead bolts that fit inside the garage door and bolt through the frame).

1. This should take an hour or 2 (maybe more depending on the amount of growth) and cost nothing.
2. This could be anywhere from a couple of hours to the best part of a day and cost between £20 - £100 depending on amount of damage to repair, your woodworking skills, size of door etc.
3. 2 coats will take 1 - 3 hours and will cost 20-40 quid for decent masonry paint.
4. This will depend on the damage to the door and method chosen to make it secure. My preference would be 2 x deadbolts fixed to the inside of the door/frame, possibly with some 2x4 screwed inside to make it even more sound. Make the door and frame look in good as condition as possible (straighten if bent etc). Then paint with some smooth hammerite. This will likely take the best part of a weekend to do and cost between £50-£100.

Regards
Phil

djdust

Point 1 is easy. The rest? Money money money, that I don't have....

I've drafted this reply to Mr Environment though but am not going to send it just yet. What do people think?

Paul

Thank you for your response, sadly it demonstrates that, yet again, you haven't actually taken on any of the points I've made and, just like last year, you're simply cut/pasting standard responses and hitting the send button. I'll take your points in turn...


>> Whilst we as a Council understand the problems incurred by persons dumping rubbish on other people’s
>> property, we cannot clear rubbish on private property, if that was the case the Council would be full
>> time clearing rubbish.

This is just a technicality. You don't know categorically that the curtilage at the back of my house counts as "private property". Even if it is for arguments sake, can you please explain

1) why all the flytipping dumped there over the last decade has been getting cleaned up by the council anyway? It was even cleaned up during our last correspondence several months ago.

2) what are you going to do about the rubbish that's *not* on "my" property, that's spilling beyond "my boundary" and firmly onto the public lane, such as the ceramic toilet that's currently there?


>> All we can offer as a Council is to enforce any fly-tipping where we receive evidence where this fly-tip
>> originates.

>> I am sorry I cannot be more helpful on this occasion, but please be assured we as a Council take
>> fly-tipping very seriously and if you have any evidence in the future where any of fly-tipping
>> originates we will take further enforcement action.

I *did* include some evidence in my last email to you. I attached a link to a photograph of a letter that I found in the rubbish that's quite clearly been deliberately ripped in half to hide the address it was posted to but contained an "NHS Reference Number" that you might be able to use to track down the people responsbile. The fact you didn't even acknowledge receipt of this is incredibly annoying.


>> As this appears to be an on-going issue with your property What I would suggest is to fence your property
>> at the rear, this would stop people from dumping on your property in the future.

Two things here:

1) I have a garage at the rear of my property. It's currently firmly boarded up but, time-permitting, I plan to put some proper doors on it to allow access to it again. Putting a fence in front of it that would block access is an absolutely absurd suggestion.

2) Even if I did want to put up a fence, I cannot afford to. As I've already stated several times, I'm currently working every hour I can struggling to earn a living. Spending a few hundred pounds on a fence is sadly not an option for me at the moment.


>> I have in my possession some no fly-tipping signs which I can give to you to put at the rear of your
>> property that may help in the short term.

You said that last year. Nothing happened though. How will this work? Will you get it put up too or do I need to come and collect it and put it up myself? Please clarify.


>> I have noted that you have no transport to take this rubbish to the tip, if you cannot get a member
>> of your family or a friend to help you take this rubbish to the tip there are many legal waste carriers
>> who would clear for you.

I don't have any family or friends who would be willing to clean up a load of disgusting rubbish and take it to the tip and I can't blame them. I cannot afford to pay to have this waste removed either due to my low income.

To sum up, as far as I'm concerned, this flytipping is not my responsiblity and I do not appreciate this continued harrassment regarding a matter that is completely outside of my control. You can take me to court if you like and get a ruling or fine imposed on me, but the rubbish will still remain where it is regardless because, as I've already stated multiple times now, I have no means whatsoever of getting rid of it, nor doing anything to prevent more getting dumped there in the future.

Regards

wealdroam

djdust wrote: »

I've drafted this reply to Mr Environment though but am not going to send it just yet. What do people think?

I think the summary in your letter is worthy of comment:

To sum up, as far as I'm concerned, this flytipping is not my responsiblity and I do not appreciate this continued harrassment regarding a matter that is completely outside of my control. You can take me to court if you like and get a ruling or fine imposed on me, but the rubbish will still remain where it is regardless because, as I've already stated multiple times now, I have no means whatsoever of getting rid of it, nor doing anything to prevent more getting dumped there in the future.

You really need to understand that owning (or renting) a property brings with it responsibilities.

One of those responsibilities not allowing others to use your property as a dump. OK, I guess you can allow that, but as the council guy says, if you do allow it then it is your responsibility to deal with that rubbish.

So you have no means of clearing the rubbish and no means of paying someone else to clear the rubbish. Why do you think that just because you don't want to spend the money, the council should do it for you - for nothing?

Get real. Sort out your boundary issues and get rid of the problem once and for all.

djdust

wealdroam wrote: »

Why do you think that just because you don't want to spend the money, the council should do it for you - for nothing.

Because they've been doing it for the last decade and I dispute their claim that the patch of concrete out the back *is* my land.

SplanK

what does the land registry say about what they think your land is?

wealdroam

djdust wrote: »

...I dispute their claim that the patch of concrete out the back *is* my land.

Then as I said:

wealdroam wrote: »

Sort out your boundary issues and get rid of the problem once and for all.

SplanK has given you one option.

Did your local councillor have any suggestions?

djdust

wealdroam wrote: »

SplanK has given you one option.

Did your local councillor have any suggestions?

Not had chance to sort either yet.

SplanK

https://eservices.landregistry.gov.uk/wps/portal/Property_Search


£3 to download the title plan

djdust

SplanK wrote: »

https://eservices.landregistry.gov.uk/wps/portal/Property_Search

£3 to download the title plan

Thank you, mucho appreciated. :beer:

TrixA

I understand how frustrating fly tipping can be, it's a big problem in my area too.

That said, I think you're allowing a victim mentality to creep in. It's pretty clear the council aren't going to solve the problem, and probably it's not their legal responsibility to do so so there's no point wasting time and energy emailing back and forwards with this guy Paul. Instead use the time and energy to actually solve the problem. I agree 100% with the advice given by phil24_7. Your property looks uncared for and I'm sure that's the reason you're being targeted. I appreciate money may be short but don't you have some friends or family members who could help you, perhaps offer to help them with something in return? Another option might be to purchase some cheap planters and place them along the concrete strip, plant a few flowers, I don't think people would fly tip on top of those.

You could also consider making a polite sign asking people please not to tip their waste here. We put one of these up on our allotment as people would tip stuff over the fence, and it did make a significant difference.