Beauty spot or grot spot?

PILES of rubble lie between the properties

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FRUSTRATED residents in Roundthorn Road are asking whether Glodwick Lows really is a treasured beauty-spot or a dumping ground.

They say developers of four houses opposite Roundthorn Primary School have shovelled tonnes of waste on to land meant to be protected for the community.

Oldham Council has responded to complaints and says agents for the developers promise work will start to clear the mess today.

But locals have been left angered at the lack of action until now.

One resident said: “It is a real mess and it is a huge amount of building waste.

“Another pile on the Lows has started to grow over now so it is not as visible.

“People fight hard for their open spaces and now it’s an eyesore. I’ll welcome it if it happens, but there are huge chunks of stone, and some of the dumped material has grassed over it has been there so long.”

Glodwick Lows, an English Nature Site of Special Scientific Interest due to rare 300-million-year-old fossils, was also Oldham’s first Local Nature Reserve in 2001.

Ian Yole, who has lived locally for five years, said: “The rubbish has been dumped and it has blocked access to the footpaths.

“The site looks like a dump and because it’s in that state I’ve seen passers-by dump their rubbish there too.”

Another resident close to the site said: “The rubbish has been dropped there consistently over the past 18 months and there have been numerous complaints from neighbours.”

The council’s enforcement officer, Bongani Ndlovu, said: “The agent has advised me they will be moving the stuff. I will be making a site visit.”