A MOUNTAIN of waste left by brazen fly-tippers who broke through a gate before unloading their rubbish may come back to haunt them – after a councillor revealed important clues were found.
The rubbish – left at Park Spring Wind Farm in Great Houghton – is now being probed by site owner EDF and Barnsley Council, while the Environment Agency are waiting in the wings due to its scale.
Estimated to be more than seven feet in height and about a tonne in weight, items with names and addresses were found in amongst the waste.
“This is no accident – it was a deliberate, brazen act of environmental vandalism,” Councillor Kevin Osborne said.
“This shows utter contempt for our community, for the environment and for the law.
“The fact that there is clear address details among the debris gives me real hope that those responsible will be identified and held fully to account.
“Barnsley residents work hard to keep our borough clean and safe – we will not allow environmental criminals to undermine that.
“I want to thank everyone involved in the investigation and I urge anyone with information to come forward.
“Given the large size of waste deposited this will almost be certainly passed across to the Environment Agency for consideration as organised waste crime.”
Although the site has been targeted before, stiffer security and CCTV were brought in to deter fly-tippers from accessing.
However, it’s believed those responsible cut through locked gates to dump the lorry‑load of waste before driving away.
Although it won’t fall on the council to clear up the rubbish, it’s one of the town’s worst-case incidents of tipping in recent years which have seen more than 15,000 reports logged since 2022/23.
“Fly-tipping is something that annoys everyone but especially this case in particular as they’ve made it their mission to get on to the site,” Coun Osborne added.
“Some of the waste looked to have been rotting away, which suggests it’s old, but three addresses were found in amongst it which gives us hope of getting to the bottom of it.
“It’s also important to add that this was almost certainly caught on CCTV, so EDF will be looking into this part of the investigation.”
The Chronicle contacted EDF for a comment.
