Large Peterborough fly-tip sparks political row after being allegedly linked to councillor

Dumped rubbish, including a fridge-freezer, were disposed of at Mallard Road business park in Bretton sometime between 3pm on Sunday afternoon and Monday morning.

It has now been alleged that documentation in the pile shows the address and correspondence of a current Labour councillor. Photos from the site also show leaflets in support of Labour’s former MP for Peterborough Lisa Forbes.

Peterborough City Council said its enforcement team is investigating.

The accusation was made by Conservative councillor for Bretton, Chris Burbage, on Facebook. He posted: “Such a shame to see this kind of mess dumped in Bretton. Evidence has been recovered along with evidence linking it to the house of a current serving Labour councillor!!”

The issue has been followed up by the current MP for Peterborough, Paul Bristow, who suggested the Labour group on the council should organise for the clear up as it is on private land and will not be collected by the council.

The land owner, Eve Taylor, told the Peterborough Telegraph she has been quoted nearly £1,000 for the rubbish to be removed.

Ms Forbes yesterday took aim at Mr Bristow on Twitter after he posted photos of the fly-tip, including one which showed a ‘Vote Lisa Forbes’ flyer in it.

She tweeted : “One of your councillors has made a serious allegation against a Labour councillor for what appears to be political gain. I have advised (they) should contact the police to investigate. You should be ashamed of yourself.”

The PT has attempted to contact the councillor - who we are not naming at this time - for a response, but we had yet to hear back at the time of publishing.

After being informed of Ms Forbes’ tweet, Cllr Burbage told the PT: “I’ve not named a single councillor. I have just said there was evidence linking (the fly-tip) to a councillor. The evidence has been sent to the Peterborough City Council enforcement team.

“As far as I’m concerned it’s been taken away in good faith but it has been dumped.”

Under rules which began in April, residents in Peterborough can be fined up to £400 for “breaching their duty of care” when disposing of their household waste.

This includes people who “failed to take reasonable steps to ensure that they transferred the waste to an authorised person”.

Newly released figures show the amount of fly-tipping in Peterborough increased during the coronavirus lockdown.

In March, there were 616 incidents in the city, rising to 764 in April.

It is hoped that figure will reduce now that the Household Recycling Centre in Fengate has re-opened.

Mr Bristow, speaking to the PT before being tweeted by Ms Forbes, said: “Fly-tipping is a problem in Peterborough. I can understand why someone might want to dispose of this, but it is important to stress that it should always be done lawfully.

“If it was my business premises I would want to know why the council can’t clear something up that has been dumped through no fault of my own. If the local authority can’t, I hope they conduct a full enquiry to identify the culprit.

“As I understand, the fly-tip contains correspondence from a Labour councillor. Perhaps they or the Labour group could organise a clean up to prevent the owner being landed with a bill.”

Ms Taylor, chair of the cosmetics firm which holds her name, was dismayed to see the rubbish left near her company which has been operating since 1963.

She said: “The council can’t help because it’s on private land. They sent an environment enforcement officer but he can’t do anything.

“It was dumped between 3pm on Sunday and Monday morning. I’m concerned about big delivery lorries hitting it - there’s a big fridge-freezer in the road.

“I’ve been quoted just under £1,000 to get this cleared. We’re now looking at extra security for the road.

“We’ve only been back to work in the last 10 days. Staff have to pass the rubbish to get to the premises.

“It’s really nasty. I know we have to pay but I’m really angry.

“We pay our business rates and have not asked the council for any rebate (during the coronavirus pandemic).”

A Peterborough City Council spokesperson said: “The incident has been brought to our attention. We take all allegations of fly-tipping seriously and are following procedure.

“Our enforcement officers have contacted Mallard Road business park for their statement and are investigating currently. We do not ever comment on contents of waste or potential sources of waste.”