Tipping point

Caught in the act: fly-tippers unload their van

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Oldham Council is investigating a number of people photographed by residents as they dumped rubbish from the back of a van on an unused area of land in Hathershaw.

Lifelong Hathershaw resident Joyce Todd (67) expressed her disgust at the “idiots” who dump rubbish at the former home of the burned-down Phoenix Tavern on Charleston Street, now a fly-tipping hotbed. “Another concern is that the mess is going to attract rats,” she said. “The land needs to be cleared up and properly secured so nobody can get into it.”

The fly-tippers unloaded rubbish from a van marked “www.ntmenvironmental.co.uk” - but Norbert Marara, the owner of London-based NTM Environmental, said he too is keen to trace the tippers.

“I sold the van some time ago and told the person buying it they must remove my company’s name from it,” he said. “They are now fly-tipping and wrongly giving my business a bad name.”

The tip site was bought by First Choice Investments in August 2012, shortly after an arson attack destroyed the pub. It was then sold to another business.

Over the last 12 months the land has increasingly become polluted with rubbish. Oldham Council has issued a notice at the site, telling the owners to clean it up before May 13.

A council spokesman said: “The landowners are required to clean up the site and make it secure. We are investigating the fly-tippers.”

The owners plan to build nine homes on the site, starting in July. A company spokesman said: “I had no idea there was a fly-tipping issue. We will take full responsibility for clearing the land before we start work. It’s very disappointing to hear that people would dump rubbish like that. We fenced off the site but people have kicked it down.”