Growing amount of rubbish at Preston docks car park branded 'utter joke' by residents

Photographer Tony Worrall shared the unsightly images to Facebook - showing heaps of litter that had been left beside a skip at the unused car park on Navigation Way.

Local's expressed concern of the increased level of rubbish, calling it 'an utter joke', 'disgusting' and questioning why there are no cameras in place in the area - referencing antisocial behaviour reported at the Italian restaurant car park in recent months.

Preston city council visited the site on September 21, but flytipping has since continued as the skips remained on the site.

Michael Balshaw, a local resident who has stood for the area in recent elections said: "The site has seen a lot of problems in recent years and has been an unofficial campsite for many months. After the last travellers vacated the site, skips were placed there to prevent access to the car park but they have attracted fly tippers.

"The councils do possess covert camera technology, so why aren't they deploying them? The charges and appointment booking system at the nearby recycling centre on Tom Benson Way has exacerbated the problem.

"Volunteer groups such as Plastic Free Preston South West have offered to clean up the site but are prevented from doing so because it is private land. Obviously such groups are limited to items that can be removed by litter pickers. My worry is that we could start to see hazardous waste being dumped there which could impact on the health of nearby residents and businesses.

"The council need to take firm action and fast."

The image, which angered locals on social media, shows two skips overflowing with litter and a black bin full with bags, causing Preston City Council to launch an investigation into the matter.

The news comes after residents called for the abandoned car park to be locked up back in June after a group of travellers had left behind trails of litter. Since the the car park, at Preston docks, has been plagued with antisocial behaviour.

This resulted in the previous owners of Baffitos being driven out of business by vandalism and anti-social behaviour.

Preston Council had previously said they were unable to intervene because the site is privately owned.

Flytipping has remained to be a concern at sites across the UK throughout lockdown, with the Wildlife Trust announcing back in July that increased litter is putting wildlife at risk.

And last month, similar scenes were seen at Chorley when flytippers blocked a road with a pile of waste.

Another local resident, who asked to remain anonymous due to previously being targeted for combatting antisocial behaviour at the docks, said: "It has always been a hub for anti-social behaviour before it was made secure after its closure.

"It started with windows being smashed and it took a long time to make it fully secure as the owners appeared to want to do it on the cheap with just boarding the windows and doors up. The locals knew that would only last five minutes which it did.

"The council put pre-filled skips at several entrances so the travellers could not return a third time. This seemed a good idea until the local builders decided to add to the skips and now they are overflowing. I personally saw a large white van and an even bigger silver Mercedes unload many bags of rubble.

"The trouble is that if the council remove the rubbish more will be added as people are looking for a dumping place rather than paying to dispose of it at a landfill site. What is needed is for the owners to accept their responsibilities and secure the whole site perimiter with a fence so that nothing can be dumped and keep the building secure.

"The locals have to put up with seeing this eyesore not the owners or previous tenants who are far away."

Councillor Robert Boswell, Cabinet member for environment and community safety, said: “Fly-tipping poses a threat to humans and wildlife, damages our environment and spoils our enjoyment of our cities, towns and countryside.

“We will pursue robustly anyone found to be fly-tipping. The debris at this location is currently being investigated by our enforcement team and will be removed when the evidence gathering is complete.

"We are also arranging for the skips to be removed over the coming weeks.”