An Edinburgh resident has slammed the council's 'unhelpful' response to fly-tipping that is 'nobody's problem' after they dismissed the disgusting mess as it's on private land.
The large pile of rubbish is on a grassy area between a pavement and warehouse on a Sighthill industrial estate. The business won't take responsibility as it's not their land, but neither will the council as it is technically private land, leaving local residents frustrated there is no one to deal with it.
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The gross pile of discarded waste is made up of white goods, a broken high chair and other scraps of furniture as well as usual litter like drink cans and sweet packets.
There has reportedly been more dumped at the spot since it was first reported a couple of weeks ago and remains there as no one will clean it up despite the Edinburgh Council waste team claiming the issue had been 'resolved'.
Local resident, Sheila Masson, told Edinburgh Live , I reported this Sighthill fly-tipping two weeks ago and was told it was 'resolved'.
"In fact it's now worse; more has been dumped on top. Edinburgh Council said it's private land so it's not their problem. But neither ECC nor the neighbouring business will say who owns it.
"The council's response was frustrating and inadequate. There was no initial explanation for why they deemed it "resolved", when it was very much NOT resolved. In fact within a few days there was further flytipping on the same spot.
"They seem to use automated responses (or at best, are using template statements) and it was only when I asked for clarification that they said it was on private land.
"However there has been no further action on their behalf to help get it tidied up - they simply washed their hands of it.
"It seems that whomever was responsible for this communication wasn't actually interested in getting it cleared away, which was ironic considering that they are supposed to be the "waste team".
Cllr Ashley Graczyk told Edinburgh Live "Flytipping is a growing concern in Edinburgh and is spoiling our beautiful city, I sympathise with those living in areas where the selfish actions of a few can really affect those living there.
"The reality is, you don’t really need to go far to see truckloads of commercial rubbish dumped everywhere. In this situation where trade waste has been dumped on private land in an industrial estate area near Dalry, I will be pushing for the council to investigate and take robust enforcement action, including fines where possible.
"As it currently stands, items flytipped on private land is usually the landowner’s responsibility to remove the waste, although if there is evidence of where the waste has come from the Council can investigate and, if possible, take enforcement action against those responsible for dumping it. If successful, the landowner may be able to recover the cost of removing the waste through the courts.
"The Council can currently issue fixed penalty notices of £200 for flytipping and courts can impose a penalty of up to £40,000 or imprisonment.
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"I’m not convinced the Council’s current enforcement powers for commercial flytipping is fit for purpose because any perpetrators caught flytipping might only get a £200 fine at worst, which will then save them thousands of pounds in comparison to dealing with the rubbish responsibly.
"Why would anyone pay to dispose of commercial rubbish in a responsible way if they can do it for nothing? An urgent review is needed to enable the council to introduce more robust enforcement action and for fixed penalty fines to be increased so perpetrators can be properly held to account and may be dissuaded from dumping."
A City of Edinburgh Council spokesperson said: “It’s always really disappointing to see fly tipping spoiling our beautiful city as the selfish actions of a few can really affect those living in a local community. There is no excuse for it.
"We have a simple booking system for residents to access our Household Waste Recycling centres and a special uplift service that costs only £5 per item to legally dispose of unwanted bulky household waste.
“Enforcement action will be taken whenever possible and there is sufficient evidence to identify who is responsible for fly tipping and we step up patrols where we can in areas where it is reported.”
