'Disgusting, despicable and totally unacceptable': Harborough council leader blasts flytippers who dumped household waste and stole CCTV cameras designed to catch them

A furious council chief has branded flagrant flytippers who have struck on the edge of Harborough “serious eco-criminals”.

Cllr Phil King hit the warpath after the shameless gang dumped an ugly pile of rubbish in a pretty country lane “flytip hotspot” at Scraptoft.

And to rub salt into the wound the blatant culprits – feared to be multiple offenders – have stolen council CCTV surveillance cameras sweeping the spot three times.

Outraged Cllr King, leader of Harborough District Council, told the Harborough Mail: “We are dealing here with serious criminal activity.

“These people are serious eco-criminals.

“This sort of vile behaviour is disgusting, despicable and totally unacceptable.”

The Conservative council boss warned the flytippers: “Flytipping is a real scourge.

“We will not put up with it in our district – even in the middle of this devastating coronavirus pandemic.

“Our message to the offenders is simple – we are coming after you.”

An old bath, dirty mattresses, bed frames, smashed mirrors, children’s toys and a load of other domestic waste was piled up.

The obnoxious truckload of trash was scattered across the quiet rural lane by Scraptoft Burial Ground and within a heartbeat of popular Scraptoft Golf Club.

“This has become a hotspot site unfortunately.

“These criminals have even stolen our covert CCTV cameras put up there to catch them three times,” said Cllr King.

“And there’s a council No Fly-tipping sign at the scene warning offenders they could be fined up to £50,000 or jailed for up to five years.

“We are now meticulously scouring this pile of rubbish searching for vital clues to find the culprits.

“This isn’t a case of local residents emptying a couple of bags of rubbish out of the back of a car.

“This is a massive load of commercial waste being tipped.

“We will be doing everything in our powers to track down these criminals and bring them to justice.”

Harborough council suspects that the garbage may have been tipped in the lane from “nearby private land”.

“We will be going out there to remove this horrific flytip.

“Our taxpayers will again have to pick up the tab and pay for this operation,” stressed Cllr King.

“This clearly comes at a bad time for the authority as it takes up valuable resources.

“Our brilliant staff are working flat out helping hundreds of vulnerable people throughout our district caught up in the coronavirus lockdown.

“So we can do without having to tackle this sort of blatant environmental crime on top.

“We have now restarted our cost-effective bulky collection service.

“So if you do have anything big that needs removing please get in touch with us.”

He urged anyone who knows anything about this flytip at Scraptoft to contact Harborough council urgently.

You can do that anonymously by visiting the council’s special alert webpage at: www.harborough.gov.uk/tipoff