Redvales anglers concerned over fly-tipping near River Irwell

Anglers and residents are worried about wildlife as they see waste being thrown on the flood defence near Central Avenue in Bury, on the banking and also in a triangle section near Warth Bridge.

According to Eric Owen, chair of Little Britain Anglers, the rubbish has been there for more than a month and nothing has been done to stop it.

He said: “We have had a load of fly-tipping on the flood defence which has just been put in and it is down at Redvales in Bury.

“And basically, my wife has been sending emails to the councillors and the council and to the Environment Agency and to Irwell Valley, who the land belongs to, and so far after nearly a month nothing has been done about it.

Fly-tipped waste (Image: Eric Owen)

“The Environment Agency says it is their asset and they are responsible for the asset but won’t take responsibility for the fly-tipping.

“They were told before they started three years ago that they would need to put some fencing up there because it had history of fly-tipping and all they have done is put a wall in which is roughly about four or five foot in height which some people could trip over with a 10ft drop which is dangerous.

• Also read: Thousands of fly-tipping incidents in Bury recorded in space of a year
• Also read: Bury mum's rat concerns as fly-tippers repeatedly dump rubbish

“There is fly-tipping of couches, beds, mattresses, soiled nappies, and more litter all down the banking which doesn’t help on the plastic into the river or does it help with our land further down.

“All this material lands up on the riverbanks and towards Salford because it goes all down there and it is a constant fly tipped area.

“It was a lovely, lush grass area only for it to be an eyesore with all the rubbish now.”

Speaking about the concerns raised by Eric, Cllr Alan Quinn, the council's cabinet member for environment, said: “Fly-tipping is a criminal offence, it is dealt with in magistrates courts.

Fly-tipped waste (Image: Eric Owen)

“If it is domestic rubbish people can take it down to the household waste recycling centre, the tip, and dispose of it.

“But what happens sometimes is people pay for these cowboy firms to take rubbish away for them and at the end of the day if that rubbish is found to come from an address it is them that are liable it’s not the cowboy firm.

“That’s why people should always check, if they order a skip, they should check it is from a recognised company that have a license to dispose of it.”

The Environment Agency and Irwell Valley have been approached for comments about the problem.