Dog walker disgusted at volume of fly tipping at park

Stephen Sweeting was walking his pet dog around the green area behind Southport Street in Parr when he was greeted by the mess.

He took it upon himself to photograph the rubbish, with all pictures taken during a 45-minute walk at the park on July 30.

Stephen says fly tipping has become a regular occurrence in the area and has been exacerbated during the coronavirus lockdown.

"It has been building up over the lockdown definitely, and was particularly bad on that day," he told the Star.

"There has been a lot of fly tipping during the lockdown, I think it is because the tips have got queues which are quite long, especially on a weekend.

"I think there's people who join that queue and then think 'I can't be bothered' and go and find somewhere to dump it."

Stephen, 54, says a more co-operative effort is needed to try and tackle the problem.

"It is people's own town, it's not dumping it on the way through at the motorway, it's the actual residents themselves.

"I think everyone needs to work together to solve it. If people leave a black bag out, the council won't take it.

"We started going there because at The Duckeries was a hang-out for youths and there was also fly tipping there. When we started we'd go with a black bag to collect it but it was futile."

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Stephen added: "It is definitely an issue and people are starting to not take any pride in the area. This leads down to a natural beauty area."