Staff at a wildlife charity have declared that they are furious after a fly-tipping incident which they found just hours before welcoming an 'influx' of guests for the Easter holidays.
Fifteen large drums of vegetable cooking oil, equivalent to 225 litres, were dumped in the car park at Northumberlandia, some of which had been set alight and scorched the surrounding grass. The discovery was made by Northumberland Wildlife Trust volunteers on Monday morning, just hours before guests were expected to arrive for Easter school holiday activities.
The site on Blagdon Lane, Cramlington, is no stranger to rubbish dumping, with items such as car tyres, shopping trolleys, clothes, and even a filing cabinet abandoned on the site. Though the site welcomes more than 10,000 visitors each year, it is looked after by the charity's estates officer Peter Ernst and a small team of volunteers.
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Fly-tipping has been a problem on the Trust's other sites for many years too, and they are worried that people are choosing to discard household items there rather than paying a collection fee from their local council. As Northumberlandia is classed as private land, Northumberland County Council did not pick up the drums from the site, with the Wildlife Trust's volunteers temporarily removing them, and moving them to another location ahead of them being disposed of safely.
Peter Ernst, Northumberland Wildlife Trust estates officer, said: "We want people of all ages and backgrounds to enjoy, not just Northumberlandia, but all our reserves, but we do want them to be given the respect they deserve. Such mindless dumping costs heavily the Trust in terms of time and money.
"In the case of the vegetable oil being left at Northumberlandia, because it is private land, the Trust will have to pay for it to be taken away. In all cases of dumping and fly dipping, it distracts us from our main job of conserving and protecting wildlife on the affected reserves."
Anyone who sees evidence of fly-tipping should report activity to the police by calling 111 or by visiting the Tell Us Something page on the Northumbria Police website.
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