Environment Agency insists it did remove rubbish from side of South Elmsall beck after claims

Residents have been warned that fly-tipping in water streams can cause flooding. Generic fly-tipping picture courtesy of Getty.

The Agency cleared out a portion of South Elmsall beck before Christmas, with bike frames also found among the waste.

Local councillor Steve Tulley claimed earlier this week that the EA had abandoned the waste after clearing out the stream, allowing members of the public to tip it back into the water.

But the EA has now denied this and said that it did deal with all of the fly-tipped rubbish, while returning the trolleys to the local supermarket.

The Environment Agency said more than 20 shopping trolleys were returned to a local supermarket.

They say that their teams returned to the scene days later, however, to find more trolleys had been dumped in the beck, leading to the perception that the waste hadn't been properly cleared.

A spokesman for the Agency said: "We would like to reassure people living near the beck that we removed all the rubbish that we cleared before Christmas, including over 20 shopping trolleys that we returned to the local supermarket.

"Unfortunately over the next few days several more trolleys were pushed into the beck. This is an ongoing problem that causes an eyesore and increases flood risk to local people.

"We would urge anyone witnessing this sort of behaviour to report it via our incident line on 0800 80 70 60."

Local Democracy Reporting Service