The Countryside Is Not The Tip!

Staff at Combe Estate were faced with the unsavoury task of cleaning up after some very inconsiderate individuals who had tipped all sorts of garden, domestic and other disgusting waste at a car park provided by the Estate for people to use when enjoying the countryside.

Beech Walk woods is an area of private Combe Estate land where public access is permitted on a voluntary basis for local people to walk and generally enjoy the countryside.  The Estate has also provided a car park for walkers to use.

Estate Manager Justin Lascelles said “The Estate is very happy to provide a car park for people to use when enjoying Beech Walk woods.  This is something that we provide voluntarily as part of our commitment to enabling the public to enjoy the countryside.  It is immensely disappointing to discover that a number of individuals have been using the car park to dump rubbish and garden waste without any regard to other users and the countryside in general.”

Fly tipping is a serious problem in the countryside and it is the landowner that ends up bearing the cost of clearing up and disposing of the rubbish.

“It costs us time and money to deal with clearing up after people and quite frankly its something we should not have to do.” said Justin.  “we have to take the rubbish to the council tip and, as we are a business we have to then pay to get rid of it.  When this comes from a site which we provide free of charge and without obligation for members of the public to enjoy it is quite galling!!”.

“It astounds me that if someone has made the effort to load up their car why they then don’t simply take it to the tip??”

It is hoped that people will be vigilant and if they spot someone dumping rubbish in the countryside that they take their registration details and inform the landowner if known or the local authority.  Better still make them aware that they have been spotted as it may deter them from going through with it.

Details of names and addresses have been obtained from the rubbish and reported to the local authorities so there may be a few people that can expect a knock at the door.  There is also evidence of some other unsavoury activity going on at the car park and measures are being taken to try to identify those involved.

Justin summed up:- “We would ask everyone to take responsibility for disposing of their rubbish.  The countryside is not a bin and if the problem continues then we may have to re-evaluate whether we make our land available for access which would be very sad for all concerned.”