Fly-tipping on a vast “ancient woodland” site is causing “serious concerns” for both the wildlife and surrounding community, a charity has said.
The Woodland Trust, the largest woodland conservation charity in the United Kingdom, has seen a rise in illegal dumping on its Smithills Estate site.
SIGN OUR PETITION: CALLING FOR HARSHER PUNISHMENT FOR THOSE THAT TRASH OUR COUNTRY
The site, which is located on the edge of Bolton and West Pennine moors, is the charity’s largest English site and composed of farmlands, moorlands and woodlands.
However, the site is becoming a hotspot for fly-tipping, with “hazardous” materials being dumped far more frequently.
Sign our petition to stop the litter blight across our United Kingdom
The site, which is located on the edge of Bolton and West Pennine moors, is the charity’s largest English site
Flickr
“It’s always been an issue on the site, it’s just now becoming more of a recurrence,” the charity told GB News, stating that incidents of illegal dumping have soared in the last six months.
Since August, there have been 21 recorded incidents on the Bolton estate.
The charity told The People’s Channel: “So there’s some serious hazards being dumped. Asbestos slabs, cannabis farm waste, general household waste and chemicals.
“Unfortunately, there’s a mixed bag of everything.”
STOP TRASHING BRITAIN:
Car park for Smithills Estate, a site composed of farmlands, moorlands and woodlands
Google Street View
Do you have a story about litter you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing holly.bishop@gbnews.uk
“There’s also lots of microplastics and glass which is totally bad for wildlife.”
According to newly released Government figures released by DEFRA (the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs), there were 5,883 fly-tipping incidents in Bolton in the year to March 2023.
The statistics reveal that, across England as a whole, there were more than one million (1,082,673) reported fly tipping incidents across the same period.
The Woodland Trust said that it is “definitely concerned” about the waste that is being dumped, for “both the flora and fauna and the safety of visitors”.
“If someone were to encounter something hazardous whilst walking around, that’s a huge concern of ours.
“The estate is formed of ancient trees and ancient woodlands which have been here a lot longer than we have, so we really need to try our best to maintain them.
“The impact on wildlife and to the people who want to walk through these spaces and these places is seriously worrying,” the charity said.
The RSPCA receives on average 13 phone calls a day about animals found injured, trapped or dead from discarded litter.
And over 25 per cent of “animal interactions” with litter result in death, a recent report by charity Trash Free Trails has found, with drinks containers being the main offenders.
