Wigan businesses' fury at rubbish dumped around offices

Fed-up businesses have hit out as repeated fly-tipping has regularly left the entrance to their offices a rubbish-strewn wasteland.
Rubbish strewn outside the officesRubbish strewn outside the offices
Rubbish strewn outside the offices

Ashford Rainham accountants and Ina4 Media, who work at a base on Upper Dicconson Street, spoke of coming into work to find disgusting bags of open waste and sometimes drug paraphernalia near the main door.

Other news: Wigan widower sets up new bereavement groupThey say this pattern of repeated offending has been going on for months and is getting worse, with dumping now often a fortnightly or even weekly occurrence.

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The firms have expressed frustration that the authorities have not been able to take the matter further and bring those responsible to justice.

However, Wigan Council has reassured them that the problem is being looked into with the police and stressed tackling fly-tipping is a priority.

Catherine Rogers, one of the directors at Ashford Rainham, which also owns the building, said: “This started towards the end of last year. We would arrive at work to find a huge amount of waste near the back door, which is the main entrance for staff and everybody else coming into the building.

“At first we thought it was a one-off but then it happened again a couple of times in January and over the last few months it has been pretty regular.

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“We got CCTV installed and can see the rubbish being dumped and then rummaged through.

“It is absolutely disgusting and we have to get private contractors in to clean it up. I can’t possibly ask staff to get rid of it. We think there were drug bags in one load.

“We’re just a bit stuck with it. Council workers and the PCSOs have both been to look at the footage.”

Ms Rogers says the company is now even looking at shelling out up to a couple of thousand pounds to get gates installed preventing access to the back of the site.

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The firms say the foul waste is having a detrimental effect on their work as clients visit the site.

Catherine Taylor, project manager at Ina4 Media, said: “At first it was quite sporadic but now we’re talking at least every other week, sometimes every week.

“It’s not pleasant and we’ve got clients coming into the building. It’s not a great advert for businesses wanting to come and trade from the town centre.”

The council is adamant it is committed to stamping out the problem of fly-tipping in general and getting something done about this particular issue.

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Kat Armitage, assistant director for environment, said: “Our environmental enforcement team is currently investigating this incident. We do have CCTV footage of this incident and we are currently working with GMP to identify the individual.

“We take a zero tolerance approach to fly tipping and need residents to help us by reporting incidents and hotspots so we can carry out enforcement and catch offenders.

"Our expanded environmental education and enforcement team is now in action seven days a week and tackle all types of environmental crime, ensuring we have clean and tidy communities.

“We will continue to work with the community in the area to see if we can stop this unacceptable behaviour and where offenders are caught, enforcement action where appropriate will be taken.”

To report an incident of environmental crime such as fly tipping or dog fouling visit www.wigan.gov.uk/reportit or download the council’s Report It app.