Council men tear down tip posters

NO FLY POSTER . . . Karen Donald at the border of her land on Huddersfield Road

AN investigation will be launched today into why anti-tipping posters were torn from gardens near a controversial landfill site.

The yellow posters were among more than 400 distributed to householders near Birks Quarry on the Lees-Austerlands border.

The posters are the first step by the newly-formed Birks Quarry Action Group to derail a tipping permit application at the Huddersfield Road site.

Residents fixed posters to stakes and put them in their gardens near the quarry entrance.

But a row erupted when a team of workmen from Oldham’s Street Scene drove away with them in a council truck.

Former police constable Karen Donald (49), whose land fronts Huddersfield Road, said: “I ran out of the house but by the time I got to the road they were in their van.

“I tried to remonstrate with them, but they laughed, waved and drove off.”

Mrs Donald contacted Street Scene. She said: “I was told they were having a purge on fly posting, but I pointed out their staff had come on to private property and taken the posters out of people’s gardens.

“He apologised and promised to get all the sticks and posters back to me.”

Her neighbours 75-year-old Mick Moore, who lives near the quarry entrance, has two posters on stakes removed from his front garden.

He said: “The first I knew they had gone was when a neighbour told my wife someone had seen them being taken by workmen.”

Another local, David Wilde (72) said posters were removed from his garden too.

“I couldn’t believed they had gone,” he said. “Like others, we just wanted to show our support for the campaign.”

Oldham Council’s Street Scene manager Peter Raferty said: “We can confirm that a Street Scene team did remove several placards from what at first appeared to be unmaintained land on Huddersfield Road.

“The council operates a strict policy against fly posting and our teams are instructed to remove any that they come across.

“In this case the correct procedure was followed, but nobody realised the land was owned by a resident.

“As soon as the mistake was realised we returned all the placards and gave her our apologies.”

Councillor Barbara Beeley, the action group’s chairman, said: “The department will be holding an investigation and have promised to report back.

“Our action group provided posters so people could show their disapproval of the development plans for Birks Quarry.

“However there has been fly posting across the area but I will wait to hear the results of their inquiry.”