Road closure in Deeside after fibreglass and plasterboard dumped by fly tippers

Update: Shotton lane has reopened. 

A spokesperson for Flintshire County Council said: 

“Flintshire County Council has been aware of the fly tipping incident in Shotton, which will be investigated and cleared today.

“All fly tips are investigated and cleared within 24 hours. If evidence can be obtained linking the waste with an individual or property, the offenders will either be issued with a Fixed Penalty Notice, or prosecuted depending on the scale of the offence.

The Council have recently undertaken an educational campaign in the worst affected areas in Shotton, to encourage the responsible disposal of waste, and in addition to this the Council are currently in the process of procuring overt surveillance cameras, for the purposes of tackling fly tipping.”

Council workers just loading dumped plasterboard and wood into van – looks like stud wall removed from a shop or office given labelling on wall sockets pic.twitter.com/InP5AwvXW3

— DEESIDE.com (@DeesideDotCom) May 21, 2019

Earlier Report: A road has been closed in Deeside after a large amount of building waste was dumped overnight.

Shotton Lane has been closed after a van load of fibreglass insulation and plasterboard was dumped on the single track road sometime last night.

The mound of waste has blocked the road between two tight bends,  the closure has been put in place from the junction with Killens Lane in Higher Shotton to the B5125 in Ewloe.

The rural location is a magnet for fly-tippers, in the past 12 months, incidents include 18 (eighteen) flat screen TV’s and 11 large yellow plastic bags labelled ‘Non-Infectious Offensive Waste’ have been thrown in the brook which runs alongside the road.

Garden waste, fencing and building materials are dumped along the lane on a weekly basis.

It’s understood a Flintshire County Council flytipping team will be out this morning to clear the road.

In January Flintshire County Council approved the use of a new penalty for those found to have dumped waste illegally.

An amendment to the Environmental Protection Act, now gives all local authorities the power to deal with fly tipping incidents using Fixed Penalty Notices (FPN).

It means any householder who fails to find a licensed carrier for their waste, and whose waste ends up being fly-tipped or illegally disposed of could face a fine of £200.

Flintshire Council says it investigates around 1,000 fly tipping reports every year, the vast majority are small scale items such as black bags and bulky household items which have been dumped.

[Closure was put in place from the junction with Killens Lane in Higher Shotton to the B5125 in Ewloe.]

Historically councils were limited to progressing the cases through the courts for prosecution, regardless of their scale.

Gathering evidence and preparing court papers is time consuming and costly with the number of successful prosecutions relatively low the council says.

“Where it is in the public interest to do so, the authority may give offenders an opportunity to avoid prosecution and subsequent court appearance by the payment of a FPN.” A council report stated ahead of the new penalty introduction.

Local authorities can set the amount of the fly-tipping FPN at a level between £150 and £400, with a default of £200 if no amount is specified.

The FPN in Flintshire will be £200, with a discount of £80 for early payment, in line with other local authorities in Wales.

Location of the latest fly tipping incident on Shotton Lane.