Council will not enforce Edgar Road flytip penalty after concerns raised over man’s vulnerability

July 8, 2020 Kathy Bailes News 23

Enforcement teams are following several investigations

A council penalty issued to a man caught dumping piles of furniture and rubbish into resident bins in Cliftonville will not be enforced after it emerged the man is vulnerable.

The £400 penalty notice was issued by Thanet council’s enforcement team after the man was caught on CCTV leaving the waste in Edgar Road. The paladin bins are for residents in the area and not outside use.

But, a reader alerted The Isle of Thanet News that the man has Downs Syndrome and would have been unlikely to have realised he was breaking any rules. They said it was possible he had been taken advantage of.

We contacted Thanet council and after a short investigation by the enforcement team the authority confirmed the penalty would not be enforced and the flytip investigation would be taken in a different direction.

Enforcement action follows complaints from residents in nearby Athelstan Road who are also experiencing flytipping and over-flowing rubbish at the paladin bins either end of the street.

They say trade waste and rubbish from those who are not residents is part of the cause of regular rubbish spillage and overflowing waste. The bins are for resident use, not general public waste.

The Athelstan Road Tenants and Residents Association is campaigning for removal of the bins in favour of using the street’s rear gardens, which all back onto the unmaintained alleyways, which were the Victorian solution to storing and collecting the street’s rubbish and which are wide enough for a vehicle as wide as a Ford Transit van.

Ward councillors Alan Currie and Heather Keen have been in discussions with council staff about tackling the problem. Streetscene enforcement staff have put signs in place warning of hefty fines for fly tipping and stickers have also been used stating the bins are for bagged domestic waste only after complaints of trade waste being dumped at the site.

Thanet council says the Street Scene Enforcement team is endeavouring to focus on the paladin bins at specific areas to “try and educate, enforce and deter against daily abuse.”

The team has initiated a crack down on those using the resident bins as a dumping ground and is investigating several incidents.

 

These include the dumping of commercial waste in Athelstan Road on Monday (July 6).

 

The team is also investigating trade waste dumped in Edgar Road today.