Huge pile of stinking rubbish - which seems to include human waste - dumped on the edge of Harborough

A new mountain of stinking rubbish has been piled up by fly-tippers on the edge of Market Harborough.

The “filthy mess”, feared to include human waste, has been created by the entrance to Greenacres travellers’ site on Leicester Road to the north of the town.

And another stack of rubbish, including white goods, has been set up by fly-tippers at the nearby Innovation Centre, a business hub, on the Airfield Business Park.

The new flytipping comes after the Harborough Mail exposed fly-tipping on a massive scale by the Grand Union Canal outside the Greenacres caravan camp earlier this month.

Blasting the new outbreak of tipping just a few hundred yards away, a furious mum told the Mail: “I’m absolutely appalled and shocked by the sheer amount of rubbish that’s been strewn and scattered about.

“I regularly run and cycle up and down Leicester Road.

“I cannot believe how much rubbish has been casually but systematically hurled about – it beggars belief and it makes me sick.”

The woman, who lives nearby and asked not to be named, added: “It is disgusting to see what has been tossed into the hedgerow and down the bank opposite Greenacres and the car wash site on the main road into Market Harborough.

“We have a fantastic market town here and are surrounded by some majestic countryside that we can all enjoy.

“But this hill of rubbish left to pile up and grow bigger day by day reflects very badly on Market Harborough.

“Supermarket trollies, fridges, packaging, rubble and suspicious-looking brown waste that may well be human waste – it’s all there.

“It may not all be visible from the road - but it is there in vast quantities.

“What are clearly visible but have also been ignored are massive piles of discarded rubbish, including white goods, deliberately dumped on the busy Innovation Centre site.

“We are talking about serial fly-tippers, very serious local offenders, who are here at work.

“I’ve seen rubbish being thrown over the fence at the travellers’ site myself,” said the lifelong wildlife and nature lover.

“I’ve done my best to clear this mess – and picked up a whole load of silver laughing gas canisters scattered all over as well.

“I was over there near the car wash one day and there was a little old lady reduced to tears as she did her best to clean this waste up, bless her.

“She was left shaking.

“I took her to one side and tried to comfort her, she was that upset.

“So many decent people in Market Harborough are outraged by this inexcusable state of affairs.

“But they are just too frightened to speak out in case they get targeted themselves.

“But it’s time for hacked-off residents like me to hit the roof,” said the mum.

“The time for talking is well and truly over.

“We need action now – and tough action at that.

“The people who are carrying out this horrific abuse of our fine town and our countryside have to be brought into line and forced to behave once and for all.

“It’s obvious that some of the travellers at Greenacres are to blame – I’ve actually seen them doing it.

“The culprits, whether they live at Greenacres or they live elsewhere, have to be re-educated swiftly.

“They also have to be fined and hit where it hurts them most – in the pocket.

“We have to put up CCTV at fly-tipping blackspots – such as here on Leicester Road and on the canal – to catch the villains in the act.

“Rubbish attracts rubbish.

“As soon as morons see waste being dumped they think it’s OK to dump even more themselves,” said the incensed protester.

“We are lucky to live in such a fantastic part of the country.

“It’s about time the louts behind this fly-tipping showed some pride and some decency and dispose of their rubbish as most of us do – properly and legally.

“And where is their respect?

“Respect for other people, respect for wildlife and nature, respect for our countryside?

“I have also seen waste dumped all the way along the River Welland, both on the banks and in the water.

“The whole problem has sky-rocketed since we all went into lockdown last March.

“We should go into schools as well and teach children that we all have to do our bit to look after our green and pleasant land.”

Cllr Phil King, the leader of Harborough council, told the Mail: “This sort of flagrant fly-tipping is wholly unforgivable – and we will not tolerate it.

“Contrary to popular belief there is 100 per cent not one law for one particular section of society and one law for the rest.

“It’s simply a case of gathering the necessary evidence and proof to be able to punish the people responsible for these repugnant environmental crimes.”

He added: “Here in Harborough we are fully committed and determined to tackling and punishing fly-tippers.

“We all have to get rid of our waste legally.

“And if you fail to do that and you flout the law we will come after you – you can be guaranteed of that.”

A Harborough council spokesman told the Mail: “We are currently experiencing some issues with fly-tipping in and around the area of Harborough Innovation Centre, land adjoining Greenacres Leicester Road and surrounding area.

“The fly-tipping that has taken place on public land has been dealt with and removed.

“We will continue to remove this as and when it occurs.

“There are also elements of fly-tipping on private land where our powers are different.

“These powers require us to ask the landowner to remove the fly-tipping rather than us being able to remove it ourselves, which therefore takes longer to remedy.”

He added: “We are working with our partners to identify the cause of the problems and try to resolve this on an ongoing basis.

“We will endeavour to keep the media and the communities in this area updated on this matter.

“We would ask that anyone who sees or witnesses fly-tipping notifies us by emailing [email protected]”