Dismay has been expressed over ‘relentless’ flytipping at a bottle bank in West Reading.
Flytipping at bottle banks has been a persistent issue in the town, with a site in East Reading being shut down last year, and reports of bad incidents of rubbish dumping in West Reading as well.
Kensington Park has suffered ‘relentless’ dumping according to a councillor, despite Reading Borough Council installing CCTV to try and catch those responsible.
The issue was raised with the council’s Labour administration at a meeting of its housing, neighbourhoods and leisure committee.
Councillor James Moore (Liberal Democrats, Tilehurst) said: “Flytipping at the Kensington Park bottle bank is relentless.
“The cameras added to trees appear to have had no impact and the problem has gotten worse.
“The fly-tipped detritus is a health hazard and blocks a pedestrian walkway. Broken glass on the pavement from bottle overflow is a hazard for primary school children, especially as the site is directly opposite the entrance to Battle School.
“Primary-aged children queue for school and play in the park within five meters of this health hazard.
“Could the council please outline how this will be remedied?”
Cllr Moore submitted photos showing rubbish overflowing at Kensington Park.
Answering the query, Karen Rowland (Labour, Abbey), lead councillor for environmental services and community safety said:
“The Kensington Road bottle banks are emptied fortnightly on a Tuesday by the council with ad-hoc collections arranged during periods of peak usage such as during the festive season.
“The other charity banks are emptied by third parties. On the occasion where that flytipping may contain evidence that warrants further investigation by the council, this can cause a short delay to emptying the bins as that investigation must be completed before the flytipping is removed.
“There are times wherein that can cause a build-up of glass left on the floor mixed in with flytipping, obviously a situation that we seek to minimise and to clear as soon as we are aware that this occurs.
Cllr Rowland added the council’s street cleaning team works seven days a week.
Continuing her response, she said: “The site is subject to CCTV surveillance and there is signage in place to act as a deterrent.
“This surveillance does elicit fines and as such it is maintained in the area as one of the more effective tools that we have to continue to deter and fine fly tipping offences at the site.”
While cllr Rowland acknowledged difficulties in investigating dumping offenders, she pointed out that the council had the 16th highest fine rates in the country according to department of environment, food and rural affairs statistics from 2022/23.
She then encouraged people to report incidents on the Love Clean Streets app.
The Reading Greens have claimed flytipping fines are down by 37 per cent this municipal year, a figure that is due to be discussed at a full council meeting on Tuesday, January 28.
The council has used CCTV to try and catch fly-tippers since 2022 at least.
A bottle bank in Erleigh Road, East Reading was sealed off by SSEN in March last year after becoming a flytipping hotspot.
Cllr Rowland answered cllr Moore’s question on November 13, 2024.
