Calls for community action on Kingswood fly-tipping

Mattresses down side roads, piles of rubble and mounds of damp donations outside charity shops – this is all too common a sight in Kingswood.

The head of the Environment Agency, James Bevan, described waste crime as the “new narcotics” of the UK when he announced national plans to tackle fly-tipping and illegal waste sites.

The problem is one that many residents and charity shops in Kingswood are familiar with.

“We get loads of donations dumped outside daily,” says Louise Davenport, the manager of the Salvation Army shop on Two Mile Hill Road.

“We chuck it out. Everyone goes through it so it gets scattered and if it pours down, by the end of the weekend it’s soaked. When we come in on Monday, it goes straight in the bin.”

She continues: “It’s well advertised that we take limited stock. People know we don’t take furniture, but they dump it.”

The charity has to hire a bin, which they pay for on a monthly basis but it gets filled up pretty quickly with wet fly-tipped donations.

Louise continues: “We have to rely on staff to take it down to the tip. It pisses everybody off, especially when they give us stuff we don’t take.”

The problem only worsened during the pandemic.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=452277285753748 

Videos shared by the Salvation Army Kingswood showed huge piles left outside. A comment below by the page admin said: “It looks like they just wanted to get rid of it as there were loads of broken electrical items. Only good for the tip.”

The Charity Retail Association, billed as the voice of charity shops, gives clear guidelines for donating items: “Do not leave your donations outside the shop, unless there is a dedicated collection bank.”

There have been cases where fines of £200 and £250 were issued for those improperly donating items and according to South Gloucestershire Council’s website, you could be fined up to £5,000.

This is not a new problem but it is persistent. The managers of St Peter’s Hospice shop on Regent Street, Imogen Owen and Vivienne Leonard, shared their frustrations.

Vivienne says fly tipped donations left outside the shop get damp and can’t be used for anything.

Imogen added: “We’ve got a back entrance and we’ve had a bit of an issue of people dumping stuff in our bin. That’s usually locked now which helps.”

Old mattresses and bags of clothing have been dumped outside Sue Ryder in Kingswood – photo: Katie Maddocks

Martin Hudd, a resident who lives near the Sue Ryder shop, says “The issue still continues on a weekly basis. I think the issue is unless the council enforce the notice at the shop claiming to have CCTV and fly tippers will be prosecuted, then this issue will not go away.”

Luke Beynon, store manager at The British Heart Foundation shop, also on Regent Street, says: “People think they’re doing us a favour, but we’ve got to pay for it. If it’s left outside, it’s damaged, it’s got stains all over it. We don’t sell rubbish, it’s got to be good quality.”

The cost is also an issue, Luke continues: “A tip run costs us about £40 and there’s a £20 extra charge for mattresses. That’s charity money- it’s frustrating.”

Several managers mentioned the council had spoken to them about fly-tipping, including Luke, who said:  “We call the council when it happens and they respond but they’re so busy we often take it ourselves, we do scrap runs to make access easier and so everything looks less unsightly.”

Katie Maddocks, another Kingswood resident, says there have been no improvements of the fly-tipping issue outside the Sue Ryder shop.

Andrea Reid, a Labour councillor for Kingswood, agrees that fly-tipping is an issue for the community.

“When I got elected I thought, I’ll be dealing with lots of parking complaints- but it’s not, it’s dumping complaints,” she tells Bristol24/7.

On the scope of the issue, she adds: “It’s weekly – I’ve had another lot at London Street. I go round on my mobility scooter to scout for all the hot spots. It’s charity shops who are worst affected. It’s understandable people can’t make it during opening hours, but the responsibility is on that person.”

Andrea continues: “The worst instance by far, I was told about and was horrified – someone had dumped so many things in front of the Salvation Army, and there are people living above those shops, they had barricaded a woman in. She was a single mum with a baby and she couldn’t get out until the staff were able to clear it the next morning.”

The councillor says a major challenge faced by the council is that once someone dumps one thing, it becomes “a fly tip frenzy”, with areas becoming hot spots.

Asked what the council is doing to respond to this, she says: “We have a 100 per cent success rate in convictions when it comes to fly-tipping. But, if that were effective, [Kingswood] would be famous for enforcement action – fly tippers would say ‘don’t do it there’.”

So she’s asking for community support to tackle the issue.

“Councillors can’t do the work of 10,000 residents,” says Andrea.

“I could do with the help, we are a team, we need your eyes and ears. You show me the problem and I will jump. I’m very much a believer that the community needs to be involved, needs to be empowered. Call me, email: spot it, report it, copy me in.”

The best way to report it is to take a photo, but don’t just post it on Facebook, report it on the council website.

Andrea adds: “We need a photo otherwise, quite simply, there is no evidence. Mostly, I’ll see comments from people on Facebook. Someone will say ‘look how disgusting this is’, and it may be that they’ve reported, but maybe they haven’t and are just having a rant. So report it, tell me, take a photo.”

She’s looking into other solutions, including the possibility of using an app called ‘Love Clean Streets’ and would also like to see the council “name and shame more”.

To fly-tippers themselves, she adds: “How dare you do this to Kingswood?”

Caitlin Quinn is reporting on Kingswood, deaf and disabled communities as part of Bristol24/7’s community reporter scheme, a project which aims to tell stories from areas of Bristol traditionally under-served by the mainstream media

Main photo: Martin Paul Hudd

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