nottinghamshire county council and veolia

(an ongoing saga)

update

much news has been made in recent months over the ridiculous rules and regulations surrounding the tipping of household rubbish at the hallcroft road recycling depot.

yesterday , 13th nov 2007 , i paid them a visit to dump half a dozen bags of hardcore and the remains of a kitchen cabinet , the resultant debris from the removal of a wall in an outhouse at my home in retford. i have been to the tip about 10 times this year , usually in my LT35 volkswagen camper conversion. as a rule an assistant from the tip would cast an eye over the contents of the van , to ensure no illegal tipping was going on and then open the gate to allow me access, yesterday however this was not the case and i , along with numerous other residents over the past couple of years, found myself falling foul of what appear to be the ridiculous rules imposed on veolia by nottinghamshire county council.

outside the gate is a hand written sign proclaiming that hardcore and other various items cannot be unloaded at the tip from a van or trailer , i had noticed the sign before but seeing as my van is obviously not a trade van , and bearing in mind i only had a small , non industrial sized pile of rubble and that i had never been denied access before i didnt give the notice a second thought.

when the attendant looked into the van he refused me access saying i could not dump the hardcore ( note , there is a skip dedicated to hardcore on site ) , i asked what i was supposed to do with it and was handed this telephone number, 0115 9772019 , which is a help line for those having trouble. this number has now been changed and the helpline is now on 0844 9808080 ( i will return to the tip later to give them the new number ) on phoning the number i received this advice.....

to dump hardcore without a car i must use a private refuse dump who will charge me £35 per tonne to dispose of the waste. i can take the waste away and transfer it to a car when i will then be allowed to dump it. if i have chosen to own a van instead of a car then i must pay the consequences and be denied access to the tip

i asked if the person thought that the increase in fly tipping in the area was in any way related to the refusal to allow admittance to the tip , the answer being a firm "no"

i was also given this web address where the rules and regulations are spelled out www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk.
i searched to site for any information regarding the type of vehicle allowed onto the tip but could find no exclusion relevant to my vehicle. the following information is contained on the site but is off no relevance to my plight.

from the f.a.q.

to solve the problem i returned home with my partner to pick up our ford fiesta , a small family car , highly unsuited to the transportation of building rubble , and returned to the gates of the tip where we transferred the bags to the back of the car and drove straight in to the tip with no further impedance , although , due to the size of the car and the weight of the hardcore i thought it best to split  it into two loads , luckily this didnt involve two trips from my house to the tip with the resultant congestion , pollution and cost as the rubbish was already at the tip in my van. =0)

our van

a ford fiesta of same model as ours

if i had no alternative transport bar my camper van what course of action could i have followed to rid myself of the rubbish other than fly-tipping or paying a private contractor?

from http://www.worksopguardian.co.uk/ashfield-news/The-full-cost-of-flytipping.3379699.jp

from http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/localenv/flytipping/flycapture-data.htm

2006-2007 data

Initial headline statistics from the third year of Flycapture indicate:

2.6m fly-tipping incidents dealt with by local authorities in England (1.3m excluding LCC)

Fly-tipping is a problem because:

• It is estimated to cost £100-£150 million every year to investigate and clear up. The cost falls on taxpayers and private landowners
• Fly-tipping poses a threat to humans and wildlife, damages our environment, and spoils our enjoyment of our towns and countryside
• Fly-tipping undermines legitimate waste businesses where illegal operators undercut those operating within the law. At the same time, the reputation of  legal operators is undermined by rogue traders
• As with other things that affect local environment quality, areas subject to repeated fly-tipping may suffer declining property prices and local businesses may suffer as people stay away

and from the newark and sherwood local strategic partnership Environment Issue Group Meeting

"KEY OBJECTIVE: Increase awareness about, and reduce affects of flytipping
Ruth Parsons identified that fly-tipping was a huge problem and that for any efficient and effective action to be implemented there first needed to be the identification of specific target locations i.e. fly-tipping hot-spots.
ACTION: The group to identify areas where fly-tipping is a major problem and to feed this back to Ruth at the next meeting"

so , it would appear that there is indeed an increase in fly-tipping which is causing a problem , a rather expensive one at that.

the above information has been sent to my m.p. ( mr patrick mercer ) , the relevant local govt dept , veolia and the local press.

ill post any replies i get as they come in.

14th nov update : ive since learned that bassetlaw district council have nothing to do with it and it is in the hands of notts county council , they have been contacted and i await their response.

15th nov. update they replied they dont seem able to help. more later.

17th nov. update. this just in from waste management .....

" Early next year, we are to review the policy and acceptance criteria at the sites, with a view to improving the current access issues, which hopefully should address at least some of the issues you highlight."

ive asked where and when these decisions will be made public and ill update the site with any relevant information as it transpires.

17th nov. update. also this morning just received a very stern , slightly tetchy  letter from bassetlaw district council , ever so touchy about who uses their logo they are.

a slight oversight on my part for which i apologise and am glad to rectify , im also pleased to note they are paying attention. =0)

as stated in the update for nov 14th  , and for the record "The Hallcroft Civic Amenity Site is not owned or operated by Bassetlaw District Council."

( they are however responsible for the emptying of wheelie bins on a fortnightly basis and the less said about that the better atm =0)

/casts a glance at the piles of refuse on cobwell road left by the binmen

in the meantime if you have a problem with fly tipping or know of any sites where fly tipping regularly takes place , or indeed if you have any concerns about the fortnightly wheelie bin collections then please send me the details , the pictures or the locations and ill check them out and put the worst examples here.

28th nov. update. got a letter from patrick mercer m.p. .........

"i share your concerns about the impact fly-tipping has on our area and across the country. an analysis of recent nationwide government figures has shown that fly-tipping has risen by a shocking 186% in the last three years, adding a massive £213 million to council tax bills over that period. three out of four fly-tips are now household waste, reflecting cuts to weekly rubbish collections"

so , it would seem that the problem is absolutley massive and yet what is to be done about it? well , nothing much according to a mail out from notts county council which arrived the same time. they've sent out a handy re-cycling wheel which clearly shows what can be recycled where but have failed to address the situation highlighted here with regards to vehicle access. although the leaflet clearly states that recycling centres will take small amounts of d.i.y. waste it also clearly states that vans and trailers will not be allowed on with these materials , leaving countless households with no other option than to pay to dump it or carry on illegally fly-tipping.

the chances of being caught fly-tipping are very remote as there are nowhere near enough funds available to police the thousands of lanes and lay-bys that are used for this practice and the fact that we are already being charged to clean up the mess would almost appear to be a green light to carry on in light of the fact that no other avenue for disposal exists.

hopefully this mail-out is a stop gap measure , put in place until the policy review of early next year , as mentioned by the council representative above.

we'll wait and see. in the meantime i have another small load of refuse that i need to dispose of , i intend to have a wheelbarrow on hand this time in which to offload the contents of my van for disposal at the tip.

ill let you know the outcome.

mail all comments and pictures to..

and finally ........

here's a small video of the farcical dumping event.....

update july 7th 2009

success . i have now been issued with a permit for my van to dump refuse and recyleable material at the hallcroft site.

these permits are available to anyone who uses a van or trailer to dump none commercial waste.

to apply for a permit go to this address... http://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/hwrcpermit

i think we could class this as a victory for common sense and dn22blacks campaign.

page last updated 7 - 7 - 2009

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