A large pile of wood, foliage, building waste, and rotten food has been fly-tipped onto a country road in St Albans.
Frustrated driver Paolo Black, who drives from Hemel Hempstead to St Albans on the school run each day, this morning discovered waste blocking Blunts Lane between the Chiswell Green Lane and M1 bridge junction.
He sees rubbish dumped on the stretch on a regular basis and has called for the hotspot to become a priority for St Albans district council (SADC) and Herts county council (HCC).
Paolo said: “Rubbish is there all the time. It hasn’t been cleared for weeks and weeks and it is an absolute blight on the countryside.
“It is horrible and this time it is also dangerous because it is actually flowing onto the road.
“It makes me feel awful because at the end of the day we all want to live in a clean environment and we are not, we are living in an environment which could be beautiful but is slowly being ruined by people who have no respect for the countryside.”
He described some junk left in hedges as like a “bizarre animal” peeping out.
Adding: “We all want it to be clean, we all want to go to the countryside and say to our children - ‘oh look, a rabbit’ - not see a pile of building waste.
“It is an enormous problem and I don’t know how to fix it.”
If Paolo drove a bigger vehicle, like a pick-up truck, he would clear the rubbish himself, he says, because it is so “irritating”.
Some of the rubbish along the road is on a private farm, which is the responsibility of the landowner to clean up.
Debris blocking the road is HCC’s problem and for refuse in public lay-bys, the onus is on SADC.
A spokesperson for HCC said: “We have received a report of this fly-tipping on Blunts Lane this morning and operate a 24-hour response service to remove obstructions from the road. The size of this load means it will require a grab lorry to mechanically lift the items.
“We have had no other reports of fly-tipping in this area since March this year, however it is a problem that we are aware of and we would encourage members of the public to report anyone that they see fly-tipping to the police.”
SADC said contractors were currently on their way to clear the rubbish, but that officers were not aware of the problem before it was reported by this newspaper.
Fly-tipping taking place should be reported to police on 999. Anything discovered afterwards should be reported on 01727 809019.
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