Canton council is facing challenges to deal with fly-tipping

Canton councilor reports his concern on common fly-tipping problem in Canton

A local councilor in Canton currently point out that there are fly-tipping issues happening every week in Canton but hard to be completely stopped.

Stephen Cunnah, Labour Councillor for Canton explained that those illegal dumping are usually resident waste in Canton, and they are hard to be traced.

“Alleyways and inner-city terraced housing are common around this area, some people just drive down into the alleys and dump their refuse there, and then then continually drive to the other side of the alleys, “said Cunnah,”sometimes just the residents leave thinks out, which make the neighbors annoyed”

According to Mr Cunnah, there are one or two hot-spots in Canton of fly-tipping, such as the alleys by Thompson Avenue which is close to the park.

However, in terms of the measures for tackling this issue, there are different prospective.

“People ask for gates either to stop people breaking into the alleys or dumping things in the lane. If they do get gates they lose the keys. Police say they can’t proceed criminals down the lane,” said Cunnah.

Apart from that, economic factors should be also concerned.

“The council can’t afford to gate every alley. It’s similar to residential parking. Besides, placing CCTV cameras for every lanes is also impossible.That’s something comes up a lot.”

In addition, Mr Cunnah do not consider that more education or propaganda could help a lot.

“I don’t think we can really educate people,” said Cunnah.”People should know that it is wrong, but they still try to do so for saving time or money.”

“But fortunately, we have got the enforcement officers around the city with good respond on the issue, they know those hot-spots and could do investigate very soon.” Cunnah added.

According to BBC News, Welsh Council recorded 38,614 fly-tipping incidents in 2016-17-increase 6% from the previous year, among which resident waste is most significant issue.

A Welsh Government spokesman told BBC News that, they will try to place more CCTV cameras on those hot-spots and work closely with local council.

He also suggested that, community involvement and education are also needed.