Council refuses to take responsibility for caravan fly-tipping problem
A Stoke farmer has been passed from pillar to post by the council after three caravans were dumped at the gates to his farm in just a few months.
Paul Cooper is demanding that the council should take more responsibility for the fly-tipping at his Chatterley Hall Farm in Talke.
The 47-year-old land owner has also found discarded computer equipment, dirty nappies and fridge freezers amongst the rubbish.
Paul said: “The caravans look unsightly and it means people pull up and root through them and that attracts more dumping.”
When the fire service contacted Paul to tell him one of the abandoned caravans was causing a hazard last winter, the commercial heating engineer was forced to use his own JCB to move it.
Having moved the caravan into his field to prevent the hazard, Paul was told by Newcastle-under-Lyme Council that it was now on his land and was therefore his responsibility.
“The worst thing about the last caravan was no-one would take responsibility for it, I was passed around different departments.
“If it was by the council’s gates they would move it straight away. Perhaps if they installed a street light it would deter them from coming at night,” he said.
Despite complaints, councillor Ann Beech, the borough council’s cabinet member for environment and recycling, said: “The responsibility for removing fly-tipping from private land lies with the landowners, not the council.”
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