Local areas have been recently targetted by youths, and fires have been lit in several places, including industrial and leisure sites, not just alleyways and old unoccupied houses.
Business owners obviously have a legal duty of care to protect their businesses against the risk of arson around workplace areas, but members of the public also need protection from the risk of arson, via the landlord or owner system being self governed, and removing wastes that could be set on fire, especially in many alleyways around the Grimsby and Cleethorpes areas in particular.
There is a current problem with unlicensed landlords being absent, or not even living in the area, and a lack of tenant control for disposing of household wastes and goods.
Local authorities will do what is in their power to control, but alleyways are under the ownership of each household, whether it is a private house owner or private landlord.
In some areas, the percentage of home owner to tenanted properties is very inproportionate, leading to areas where tenants are the major dwellers in a street. owners then feel that they are being discriminated when wastes generated from tenanted houses stay in alleyways, and become a oprivate owner’s responsibility.
The Humberside Fire Service are very concerned at the numbers of alleyways where wastes could be an arson problem and have already dealt with several fires over the last few months.
This is a serious problem as residents could become trapped in places where a safe evacuation could not be obtained.
Local Skip it events could be a major solution to removal of wastes, but need to be supported not just by owners, but also by tenants and landlords.
Councillors are talking behind the scens at what could possibly be done to make the Skip it events as useful as possible, bearing in mind that many people do not have transport to move discarded wastes and goods to collection points.
The waste recycling facility and waste trucks are now under the ownership and control of New Lincs, so any help to collect goods not on the council waste collection “pay to remove” scheme have to be negotiated.
Prosecutions and fines can ionly be done with a defined level of evidence which is often hard to pcollect and prove ownership of discarded goods, so frustration is all around these areas.
Advice, if you are one of the areas blighted by illegal waste tipping – take photos, videos, ask for mobile council cameras to be utilised in bad areas – put a powerful case forward for local action to your councillors. observe if landlord building contractors are working on properties asnd ensure that their waste is taken away correctly. report asap if dumping occurs, there could be proof matching goods to original locations – paint scrapings, bits of wall paper etc.