A Crying Shame

The local post office is about a mile away and I normally walk to it when I need to post or collect a parcel.  On this occasion I took what I call the back route, along a former canal.  Now the trees are bare it is easier to see into the adjacent land, planted a few years ago as part of a major forestation programme called the Forest of Mercia.

Imagine my upset to see so much tipping of waste in the area.  This is but a small amount of the waste, all being brought in on lorries by unscrupulous people.  I chatted to a couple of locals that have reported the activity but, and this is really frustrating, because it is on private land very little seems to be or can be required to be done.  It is hundreds of metres from the nearest road.  The landowner's failing is to not secure the land to prevent large vehicles entering to off load the waste.  But even when they do, and there is clear evidence they have tried to block the access routes, the perpetrators bring along diggers to open up new routes.

We've had major tipping going on in the Midlands in the last two years and on occasion it can result in mountains of waste being tipped overnight.  I remember on one occasion an estimated 180 tonnes of waste was dumped in one local beauty spot overnight!  There are various task forces set up to try and prevent or apprehend the culprits, but it doesn't prove easy.