THURROCK Council and its ruling Conservative group have been championing its actions in clearing away fly-tipping and dumped vehicles on a patch of land in the ward of newly appointed communities portfolio Cllr Qaisar Abbas.

In what at first reading appears a contradiction in policy, with the council frequently in the past refusing to take responsibility for clearing up dumping on land it does not own or is responsible for, the council appears to have set a new policy.

The council's environmental enforcement officers removed three lorryloads of fly-tipped waste and three abandoned vehicles from Flint Street in West Thurrock yesterday (Friday, 8 August).

An official council statement said the site has been used by 'unscrupulous fly-tippers' and added that as a result of its actions the owner of one of the dumped vehicles has been issued with a £200 fixed penalty notice. Also a community protection warning notice was issued to the same person responsible for the vehicle, the notice requires that he does not place any unroadworthy vehicles at the location again.

The statement also recognises that the action has been taken on unregistered land, a point echoed in a triumphalist press released issued directly from the Conservative group.

In that release it says: "Today the Conservative administration at Thurrock Council is proud to announce the clearance of a disgraceful fly-tipping site along Flint Street. 

Cllr Qaisar Abbas at the dump site.

"This land is unregistered and would not normally be the responsibility of the council to clear. However, after receiving a number of complaints from local residents and concerns about the abandoned vehicles on site, West Thurrock & South Stifford councillor Qaisar Abbas had had enough and pushed for urgent action."

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The Tory release continues: "Cllr Abbas said: 'This kind of behaviour is completely unacceptable. To think that somebody would try to get away with dumping their unwanted vehicles and rubbish in a residential area is beyond belief. There are families across West Thurrock that deserve to live on clean and tidy streets as an expected minimum. Thank you to the Environmental Team at the Council for all their hard work clearing the site'."

Council leader Cllr Robert Gledhill recognises a change from normal policy, saying: "This is great work by Cllr Qaisar Abbas and our hardworking environment team. It is clear things have got out of control on this site and the council has had to step in to ensure the safety of local residents.

"Your Conservative councillors take all kinds of fly tipping seriously in Thurrock and will use every means we reasonably can to tackle it. Please report to us any sites that you see!"

Cllr Gledhill also comments in the official release where the council says will do all it can to recover the monies from anyone responsible.

He said: "Fly-tipping is a disgusting and selfish act and we will seek to prosecute those who show such flagrant disregard for the borough.

"We investigate all fly-tips and will issues fines to the owners of any vehicle they have dumped in the borough.

"Even though this waste had been dumped on private land we acted to remove it today. Since this April we have removed over 350 fly-tips from the borough."

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Anyone who would like to report fly-yipping or car dumping can do so via these links to the council website: https://www.thurrock.gov.uk/fly-tipping/reporting-fly-tipping and https://www.thurrock.gov.uk/abandoned-vehicles/reporting-an-abandoned-vehicle

However, the fly-tipping link comes with a caveat from the council: "We don't clear fly-tipping from private land, private alleyways or private access roads – the private owner is responsible for these."