Political View: We all have part to play in tackling fly-tipping

There was an active rumour mill leading up to last weekend with stories of political takeovers and new coalition administration in ‘full on’ conjecture mode.

To conclude the political activities for the last civic year, Councillor Marco Cereste’s successful Mayor’s Finale Ball at the Holiday Inn on Saturday did witness recurring clutches of councillors exchanging views during the evening, no doubt discussing the various runners and riders lined up for the threatened ‘Leadership Stakes’.

The latest news is that any challenge will now be deferred until a June meeting.

So that allows even more time for potential dealmaking, and to give our long- suffering residents even more reason to throw up their arms in frustration and disbelief and wonder what they elect us for. Certainly, not the continuing posturing and disruption the council has been subject to for the past couple of years.

I have no remit for any party other than the Conservative group to which I was elected, but am happy to declare my view, and that is the largest party bestowed on the chamber by the electorate is that which should run the administration. Not a cobbled together rainbow coalition of disparate groups and sundry individuals who wish to have their moment in the limelight.

We must strive to re-establish continuity and await the decision of the electorate at the time of the next election on how to bring about change.

Getting on with the business of what we are elected for, I joined my fellow ward Councillor Mark Ormston to meet with PT reporter Stephen Briggs to visit grot spots in Eye, Thorney & Newborough on Friday.

The resulting article and accompanying videos appear on the Peterboroughtoday.co.uk website and demonstrate the challenge many rural residents and whole communities face daily.

Despite excellent collection work by Aragon, the City Council’s fly-tipping contractor, the unremitting pressure that residents find themselves under is hardy a sustainable way to deal with the issue.

During our Friday tour we showed the reporter the incidences of household goods, fridges, builders waste and debris from redundant cannabis farms that all littered the water courses and verges at a variety of locations.

The detection and prosecution of those responsible is of paramount importance.

Clearly detection is not easy with much of the fly-tipping incidences undertaken by organized criminal activity or landlords who are less that scrupulous with their tenants or regretfully in many cases in respect of their own responsibilities with the legal disposal of waste from their properties

As members of the public, we all have our parts to play in getting on top of the curse of fly-tipping. Debris dumped on verges and in water courses affects us all with the environmental damage it causes – and not only by its unsightly nature but with potential damage to wildlife, and importantly by possibly entering the food chain by its seepage into the soil, and water courses.

Yes, more financial investment in detection and prosecution measures will always be a good idea, but in these cash strapped times for local authorities it’s important that people power contributes. The parasitical practices can be impacted by vigilance and us all taking personal responsibility.

Please make sure anyone you entrust to dispose of your own unwanted household items, white goods and old furniture produces visible evidence of a waste carriers’ licence, which of course residents should ideally photograph.

Your old mattress need not end up on a rural verge or dumped in a drainage dyke, (or on a city street corner) with some sensible management of where it goes when you don’t want it!