Fingerpost community is 'fed up' with persistent flytipping

Members of the Fingerpost Community Group have become “fed up” with the situation, which has been an ongoing issue for several years.

They say the issue has been going on since switch to two-weekly brown bin collections in 2013, but said it has gotten worse during the pandemic.

READ > Independent councillor resigns from St Helens Council due to 'health issues'

Since June, the Fingerpost Community Group say they have logged 28 flytipping reports, largely concentrated on three alleyways.

“It’s a regular occurrence,” a spokesman for the group said. “It’s at least once a month, I have to go round and take photographs.

“Normally I just send in the requests and that’s it.

Flytippers have dumped waste at Robinson Place in Fingerpost

“When it gets really bad we post it on the Fingerpost Community Group. But it’s been so bad lately, it’s just disgusting.

“But what it is, personally I think a lot of this is someone doing house clearances because there can’t be that many people disposing of mattresses and stuff like that.

“Somebody knows they can get round here and just dump it because the council just will not do anything about it.”

A spokesman for St Helens Borough Council said it will remove any waste within 10 days “in most cases”.

However, collection teams have been impacted in recent weeks due to staff self-isolating as a result of staff testing positive for Covid-19.

In one recent case, the council took around three weeks to clear waste at an alleyway between Graham Street and Pitt Street.

A spokesman for St Helens Borough Council said: “In most cases we will remove any waste reported to us within 10 days.

“Unfortunately in this instance it appears there has been an issue following the two reports but as soon as we were alerted sent a team to clear it within 24 hours.

“Flytipping is an inexcusable act that not only costs money to clean up but shows a total lack of respect for our communities.”

The alleyway between Graham Street and Vernon Street was cleaned up by St Helens Borough Council only for more waste to be dumped shortly afterwards

Since clearing it up last week, more waste has been dumped at the alleyway at Graham Street and Pitt street.

The situation is even worse at the alleyway at Graham Street and Vernon Street, which was also cleared by the council’s clean-up team last week.

And while the issue has been more noticeable in recent months, the Fingerpost Community Group spokesman said the issue has been going on for “years before lockdown was heard of”.

The group spokesman said: “We’ve got absolutely fed of it and the general public need to know that this is going on.

READ > Whiston Hospital opens fifth coronavirus ward as admissions continue to rise

“All of Fingerpost knows it’s going on, but the council are happy for nobody else to know about it.”

Anyone who spots any flytipping is asked to report this by calling call 01744 676789 or by using the St Helens Council app.

Alternatively, flytipping can be reported on St Helens Borough Council’s website at www.sthelens.gov.uk