Call for CCTV as fly tippers spoil Heywood nature spot

Heywood councillors are calling for CCTV to be installed due to repeated fly tipping spoiling a popular Heywood nature spot.

At a Heywood Township meeting on Monday (7 March), concerns were raised that the area on Crimble Lane, close to Heywood Cricket Club, is being destroyed by out-of-town fly tippers who are dumping rubbish including large and difficult items.

Among the dumped rubbish, say councillors, have been letters which have Manchester addresses on them, indicating that the culprits are making a special drive in to the area.

According to government figures released in 2015, fly-tipping is costing the local taxpayer over two hundred thousand pounds per year. There were 4,394 incidents of fly-tipping reported to Rochdale Borough Council in 2014/15, which cost a staggering £201,967 to deal with.

North Heywood Councillor Peter Rush said that work is to be done to catch the people responsible. He said: “This is a very expensive issue, and on many occasions we have found that the rubbish being dumped is from out of town.

“We found some bags with letters and such from Manchester. It’s hardly fair that the people causing the problem aren’t from Rochdale, yet the people paying for it to be cleaned up are from Rochdale.”

“Lower Crimble Lane is quite far out into the woods in Heywood, and the problem is not only in Heywood, but work has to be done to sort this out. The cars need to be identified, and the people need to be identified.”

Cabinet Member for Housing and Environment, Councillor Jacqui Beswick said: “It has been flagged up and it needs something doing, but there is no clear way of finding a solution. There was talk of a CCTV camera being installed because we need to identify the people who are doing this. Even with CCTV, you can’t say for sure that you can catch who is doing it but there has to be some action taken.

“It isn’t just small buts of rubbish either, large items are being dumped. Builders’ rubble and all sorts of stuff that isn’t easy to get rid of. I think a lot of the items being dumped are not even from Heywood people, people from outside are coming in and finding a suitable place. It’s not fair.”