'Mindless morons' blamed for dumping fly-tipped waste back into South Elmsall beck

The Environment Agency cleaned out The Beck which runs through South Elmsall and out towards Doncaster before Christmas, according to local councillor Steve Tulley.

But Coun Tulley said staff then left a large quantity of rubbish by the waterside, rather than disposing of it permanently and it was subsequently fly-tipped back in The Beck.

Coun Tulley made the remarks in an environmental scrutiny meeting on Monday, during a discussion about flood risk.

He said: "The Environment Agency spent a considerable amount of time before Christmas clearing out rubbish - shopping trolleys, bicycle frames and one thing and another.

"But they then failed to bring a lorry along and pick it all up.

"So the mindless morons who come along and throw things into the beck, then came along and saw an opportunity over the next couple of weeks to throw everything back into the beck.

"I’ve tried to contact Environment Agency about it but to no avail."

Wakefield Council's flood risk manager, Paul Maddison, said he had passed a previous email from Coun Tulley about the issue onto the Environment Agency, and that he was surprised no action had been taken to resolve it.

He added: "I will take that further. If rubbish gets caught further down stream it will cause flooding where you don’t expect it."

The Environment Agency has been contacted for comment.

Local Democracy Reporting Service