Residents on worst fly-tipped road in Northampton left 'sad' and 'frustrated' by ongoing issue
A woman living near the worst street for fly-tipping in Northampton has admitted that the state of the area has made her consider moving away from the town.
Walking along Semilong Road many items are dumped on the side of the street - first a suitcase, then a mattress, and last a lone tyre. Just one street over a glass table rests upside down on the path next to a faded sofa stacked with rubbish and adorned with a bag of mouldy bread.
A Freedom of Information (FOI) request sent to West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) cemented Semilong Road as the worst street for fly-tipping over the last 12 months. From June 1 2023 to 2024 the authority received 672 reports from residents - an average of nearly 13 rubbish dumping incidents a week.
Jackie Balchin, who has lived in the Semilong area for nearly three years, said she has considered moving away multiple times due to the litter and fly-tipping problems. She said she often sees mattresses, bed frames and sofas left on the side of the road and sees smaller sacks of rubbish and litter daily.
She told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “There won’t be a time you go to Semilong and there won’t be a flytip.
“It’s sad because I do think Northampton has so much to offer. I have a really full life living here but then I get really demoralised by seeing the lack of respect for the community.
“It’s just frustrating because you feel like why is there no pride where we live? Because there is so much [fly-tipping], not that I would do it but, I can also then see why people go ‘why do I bother I’ll do it too’.”
She decided to join the Northants Litter Wombles to try and tackle the issue head-on and says the group now patrols the area once a month together and regularly reports fly-tips to WNC.
“I think there’s definitely more to do in terms of awareness and there’s a definite need for more bins. It’s a bit of both… as much as the council can do more it needs to be a change in mentality of looking after your own doorstep at least,” Ms Balchin continued.
A concerned resident walking down Semilong Road told the LDRS he had noticed rubbish sitting around on the street for days on end.
The man, who asked not to be named, added: “I think it’s the whole of the town centre [that’s affected] and the council haven’t been able to keep the streets clean for like a decade.
“People just kind of get used to it and then they join in and do it as well. I remember when it was always kept clean.
“You never used to see dustbin bags just in the middle of the street and you would never see it outside the shops. Everything just went downhill from there.”
WNC said it spends in the region of £3 million a year to keep public land clean of litter and fly-tipping.
Councillor Winston Strachan (St George ward) said many of the streets leading off Semilong Road occasionally have fly-tipping as a result of its HMOs. He said his fellow ward councillors had also requested CCTV in known hotspot areas to help catch the culprits - something they had been “pressing the council on for some time”.
A WNC spokesperson said it works with partner organisations “to try to tackle the ongoing issues in these locations and allocate our limited resources to the areas most in need”.
The spokesperson said: “We will continue to take enforcement action where we have robust evidence to do so.
“Residents can support this work by disposing of their waste correctly and by providing us with statements and evidence, such as ring doorbell video footage or other information.
“We would like to remind our communities that depositing waste is unlawful and help to educate them to dispose of their waste using the correct channels.”
People can report litter, street cleaning and grounds maintenance issues on the council’s website and can apply to WNC’s bulky waste collection service to get rid of large household items.