'This must be sorted now': Fly-tippers dump household waste - and even a bike - by the Grand Union Canal in Harborough

“They have got to be punished because they simply do not care for our fragile, precious environment one jot," said one campaigner
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An outraged outdoors campaigner is calling for a huge pile of rubbish dumped by the Grand Union Canal in Market Harborough to be cleaned up now.

Peter Pollak, 75, hit out after taking these pictures of the fly-tipping “scandal” just feet away from the Greenacres travellers’ site to the north of the town.

“I could not believe what I was seeing as I walked along with my wife.

Images of the fly-tipping on the Grand Union Canal in Market Harborough.Images of the fly-tipping on the Grand Union Canal in Market Harborough.
Images of the fly-tipping on the Grand Union Canal in Market Harborough.

“There was all sorts of household rubbish and building waste tipped on the bank of the canal very near to this camp,” Peter, a local activist for the Open Spaces conservation group, told the Harborough Mail.

“There was even an old bike that had been just thrown down.

“The people who do this are out and out eco-criminals.

“They have got to be punished because they simply do not care for our fragile, precious environment one jot.

“It’s the only way to deter them,” insisted Peter, who lives in Market Harborough.

“What makes them think that throwing their filthy rubbish all over our canal banks and endangering wildlife as well is all right?

“It is totally unacceptable, entirely unforgivable.

“I’d like to congratulate and thank who ever has cleaned up the towpath heading out from the wharf in Market Harborough.

“That stretch of the canal is much cleaner now.

“But this horrific mess by the travellers’ site is disgusting – it’s a veritable scandal.

“And it reflects very poorly on the town of Market Harborough as a whole.

“People come here from all over the area to walk and enjoy our beautiful countryside and historic canal,” said Peter, a retired insurance surveyor.

“What must they think of this ugly blot wrecking our landscape?

“There’s no way that this blatant ecological attack on our town should have been allowed to be carried out in the first place.

“This fly-tip has got to be dismantled and cleared away now – and this criminal behaviour stopped once and for all.”

A Harborough District Council spokesman told the Mail that “further enforcement action” against the suspected fly-tippers is “imminent”.

“We are working hard to resolve this issue,” he said.

He said that council officers are due to hold vital talks with other “key stakeholders” – believed to be the Canal and River Trust and Environment Agency – on Friday (March 12) to tackle the serious, long-running fly-tipping problem at the spot.