ON Friday (28 November) afternoon, Thurrock Council staff examined all of the approximately one kilometre of rubbish illegally dumped on riverside land in Purfleet.
Chief executive Graham Farrant went to the site to see for himself what had been left and said afterwards: “The vast majority of the rubbish is inert builders’ rubble and waste wood, but we have found some paperwork with names and addresses.
“We will be approaching these people and inviting them in for interviews, probably under caution – everyone has a duty to ensure that their own waste is disposed of properly!
“In addition, we have found a little medical waste, some of it unused medicines – including insulin – which appears to have come from a pharmacist. We will also be contacting that store and invited them to attend for a formal interview and explain how they have disposed of their waste.
“If we can take any legal action, including prosecuting those who have not exercised their duty of care, we will do so.”
He added: “Fly-tipping and illegal traveller incursions are constant issues for councils to tackle, but it is worth remembering they are not always directly related and they are rarely carried out as a commercial crime on this scale.
“However, we have written to the government asking that they look again at the legal processes and the hurdles we have to jump through to take action. If it takes five working days or more to get a court order, that can be a week or more of rubbish – and as we have seen here at Purfleet that can be on an industrial scale.
“At the moment local authorities’ hands are tied. Our frustrations mirror those of the public at large and those expressed by some politicians. Maybe, if possible at all, some good will come out of this mess and action will be taken to enable local authorities and our partners to act swiftly more easily and decisively when necessary.”
