Fly-tipping one of our top priorities say four out of seven candidates standing for Doncaster Mayoral Election

Now, I know Mexborough is a small black hole on the Outer Rim of Doncaster’s known universe but surely we are not so remote that; in the days when politicians and councillors seeking our support and votes can travel to any point in time and space at warp speed; a simple bin lorry cannot reach us. 

Back in late February/early March we reported some fly-tipping, in an empty garage plot across the road from our house, to the local council. The very next morning a DMBC Council truck arrived and cleared all the rubbish away. A short while later a bed base, a huge bright red bean bag and assorted collections of general household rubbish appeared overnight in the same spot. We suspect we know where it is coming from but have no proof. Let’s just say it’s down to convenience for the culprit. This new pile of fly-tipped rubbish was reported to DMBC by both myself, my husband and, as we have subsequently discovered, half the residents of our street; all of whom have the same opinion regarding the culprit.

My first report was sent the last week of March, as was my husband’s and after a week we wondered why no one had been to clear the rubbish as before. I sent a further report; using the council’s preferred online form and attached yet another photograph of the increasing mound of litter. On the 2nd April I found their Facebook page and messaging app so fired off a query as to how long it took to clear fly-tipped rubbish. Six days later I got a response blaming COVID.  

A few days later I dutifully sent the requested reference number of the second reporting and stated the date and time it had been sent accompanied by yet another photograph. On 13th April I received a reply to say it had been passed on but they were looking into who owned the land and who is responsible for clearing the rubbish. I suspect they are hoping it’s not them. I can help them here; having checked with Land Registry a few years ago; the land is common land and has been since sometime in the early to mid 1900s. Am I to assume that DMBC is unable to access this service when granting planning permissions to all those construction companies who squash a full housing estate into a disused bus stop? 

On 21st April when, after l’d had no response nor had the rubbish been collected, I sent another message with yet another photograph to report that now the bean bag had been split open and the polystyrene filling was being thrown around by passing children pretending it was snow. Whilst I can see the fun they derived from this, being children, clearing up after their game wasn’t the first thing on their minds when called in for tea. A couple of days later a neighbour told us he was fed up of reporting it and had subsequently contacted our own local councillor; who spares no opportunity to brag about the litter picking efforts of him and his little gang of cronies, usually in the “nicer” areas of the town or where he can get the most media exposure; and was informed that numerous reports of this fly-tipping had been sent to him over the last few days. He assured us he would chase it up that day. Whether it’s by his efforts or not but on both Saturday and Sunday mornings a DMBC litter truck drove up the road, stopped, a man got out, took photographs, got back in the truck and drove off again. And this is what my council tax is paying for!

Another couple of days passed with no further response or activity from the council. Perhaps it’s because they’re snowed under trying to clear their inboxes of all the eLitter created by the reports from the residents of this street. 

So, after approximately four weeks of looking at the mess from my window and bearing in mind that all the current councillors are greedy for my vote come the 9th of May I sent yet another report with yet another photograph. 

Strangely enough, an hour later, I received a reply:  

I presume the further information will be to tell me since it’s common land it’s not their responsibility.

Things certainly hotted up. Especially now I’ve kind of got the hang of #s and @s on Twitter. In a fit of pique I tweeted my discontent and #’d the council and @’d the mayor. Within half an hour I had a response. Whether anything will come of it we shall see………

Well, the rubbish is to remain. I received an email from the council bod, the head of the street cleaning department no less. His reply contained no surprises;  

As expected the council have effectively absolved themselves from having to take any further action. We now have wait until some nebulous point in time for the “enforcement team” to chart  a course into the unknown regions beyond the two mile radius of the shiny new council offices which form the hub of the recently regenerated metropolis of Central Doncaster. Meanwhile, over in our far distant black hole, the residents of Our Street will just have to put up with looking at the current view from their windows.