Councillors slam 'scumbags' after tonnes of rubbish dumped by roadside in Selston

Councillors Andy Gascoyne and Arnie Hankin were so angry at the sight they discovered near Park Lane, they summoned Ashfield’s council leader Jason Zadrozny down to view it and demanded urgent action.

Councillor Zadrozny has arranged a clean up and ordered an immediate investigation.

The fly-tip dumped on the Kirkby side of motorway bridge on Park Lane, Selston, was thought to be the result of a garden clearance.

Tonnes of rubbish, including full trees and masses of earth, was dumped earlier this week.

The council is appealing for witnesses to come forward with any information.

Councillor Andy Gascoyne said: “This industrial, garden fly tip was outrageous.

“It was dumped right on the gateway to our wonderful, rural Selston.

“We are asking for anyone with information to get in touch with the council so that we can find the culprits.

“It must have taken the offenders ages to dump this – someone must have seen the scumbags?

“We are proud to represent our rural community and this beggars belief. I hope that residents know that we taken incidents like this extremely seriously.”

Councillor Arnie Hankin added: “If we find the culprits – we will throw the book at them.

“I’d like to thank council leader Jason Zadrozny for coming down to Selston to see for himself the sheer scale of the dumping.

“It is not acceptable – we work hard to keep our beautiful parish clean and incidents like this appall me. We will not let these environmental criminals wreck our rural community.

“We won’t apologise for using the word scumbags – councillor Gascoyne is right though. I’ve known Andy for years and never heard him so angry.”

Ashfield District Council prides itself on working hard to tackle fly-tipping.

Last month, as part of the Big Spring Clean initiative, 175 tonnes of rubbish was collected over three weekends.

Councillors Andy Gascoyne and Arnie Hankin mucked in as touring bin wagons helped residents get rid of excess waste.

In the last year, reports of fly-tipping have gone down over 20% in Ashfield as the council fights its war on waste.

Ashfield’s council leader Jason Zadrozny said: “I’d like to thank councillors Andy Gascoyne and Arnie Hankin for bringing this matter to my attention.

“We are in the process of moving it as we launch a formal investigation.

“As a council, we do everything we can to assist residents to get rid of their rubbish.

“Our free bulky waste offer is now open all year round and our annual spring cleans are hugely popular.

“This fly-tip was the worst in the district for years, however, and I hope our investigation will catch the offenders.”