Councillors on 'warpath' against flytippers urge council to catch culprits and clean up 'filthy' Northampton town cente

Residents and councillors are on a “warpath” against fly tippers in Northampton town centre and are calling on the council to take action.

Labour councillors in the Castle ward say their area is “filthy” due to excessive fly-tipping which, they claim, is being compounded by a “lack of enforcement” by West Northamptonshire Council (WNC).

The councillors have all recently been pictured holding protests signs in notorious flytipping spots in the town centre - including Swan Yard, Jeyes Jetty and College Street - in a bid to raise awareness and call out WNC.

Councillor Danielle Stone said: "Castle Councillors are on the war path against fly tippers and lack of council enforcement."

Councillor Enam Haque said: “Enough is enough. Residents have had enough. Councillors have had enough. We need to catch the culprits. We need more CCTV and more enforcement officers.”

Councillor Fartun Ismail said: "WNC says it wants to be clean and green. Castle ward is not clean. It is not green. It is filthy.”

Councillor Jamal Alwahabi said: “We pay Veolia over £12 million a year. There is no value for money. Bring services back in house.”

College Street resident Vikram Kalsi says he has been trying to get WNC to clean up mounds of bin bags for nearly two months to no avail.

The 47-year-old said: "I've been reporting it for nearly two months. The shocking thing is the council asked me to provide pictures of people leaving bags there. I can't be there all the time to be a witness. It's not my duty either.

"I live right above it. It smells, it's filthy and it's an eyesore. There are piles of rubbish not in bins and just left on the street. This attracts rats. A solution should be in place; set up cameras, or put signs up, start penalising people. Just try to do something about it so people will get scared.

"The council is hiring litter wardens for the town centre who are penalising people for dropping cigarette ends - College Street is close by but they are turning a blind eye to it."

Vikram says the council told him it is “looking for a solution” but says these have so far been “empty promises”.

"This is not a one of a kind problem. The council has done nothing about it. This street is filthy seven days a week," said Vikram.

WNC has been contacted for comment.

In separate statement, Councillor David Smith, WNC’s Cabinet Member for community safety and engagement and regulatory services, said: "Northampton is densely populated, and we have to ask householders to be respectful of their neighbourhoods.

"At West Northants Council we are trying really hard to combat fly-tipping and especially in the hot spots around Northampton. We are working closely with distressed local residents to try and stop repeat offenders fly-tipping in areas like this, and we are not talking just bin bags.

"If left on the street for any length of time, household waste can quickly end up as an unsightly mess being blown around our streets.”