Community ‘cut off’ after 10ft wall of rubbish fly tipped

Council officers investigating after fly-tippers dumped 30 tonnes of waste on a country road, cutting off residents from the outside world.

An appeal for dash camera footage of two tipper-type lorries caught on CCTV in the area has been made as the community continues cleaning up.

Lichfield District Council believes the building waste, which also included household rubbish, was fly-tipped in Watery Lane, near Curborough, at 11 pm on Sunday and 12.45 am on Monday.

Homes and businesses were completely cut off until contractors cleared the road this morning.

Richard Cox, a local district and county councillor, said cleaning up could cost thousands of pounds.

He said: ‘Whoever did this are mindless vandals who are passing their costs onto the public.

‘This needs to be properly investigated to see if there is any evidence in there as to who is responsible.’

Jack Twomey, the council’s environmental protection and housing manager, said: ‘It was deposited late on Sunday night into the early hours of Monday morning.

‘We have got some CCTV footage that suggests there were two vehicles involved. It may be that there were more but thus far that’s what it seems to be pointing towards.’

Businesses are already hurting, however. Beauty salon owner Claire Hellyer told the Mail: ‘I came down just after 8am to get ready for my appointments and found the road taped off by the police.

‘All the businesses were down by about 60 per cent because we’ve been closed at the Lichfield end of the lane for months at a time because of the housing. The losses are devastating. Most of us are barely trading.’

It may have taken between 30 seconds and one minute to load the waste on the road.

Photo and video evidence can also be shared with council officers via the authority’s online fly-tipping evidence submission portal.

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