'These countryside criminals must be taught a lesson' - huge pile of rubbish is dumped on the outskirts of Harborough

An eco-campaigner is battling to get rid of a massive pile of rubbish dumped on the outskirts of Market Harborough.

Peter Pollak, 75, and his wife Fran, 70, were stunned when they came across the shocking case of flagrant fly-tipping while out walking.

The Great Outdoors devotees encountered the “sickening blot on the landscape” close to the new £5.2 million Airfield Business Park to the north of Market Harborough.

Angry Peter, of Limner Street, Farndon Fields, told the Harborough Mail: “We were totally horrified by what we saw.

“There was rubbish everywhere we looked.

“How can anyone think it’s fine to brazenly drive on to someone else’s land and just dump lorry load after lorry load of rubbish?”

The lifelong rambler added: “These crimes against our environment are simply not acceptable.

“It must have taken a while to build up this sheer volume and weight of building materials and scrap.

“The louts who fly-tipped this garbage thinking they’ll get away with it must be tracked down and punished.

“These countryside criminals must be taught a lesson.

“Society will not accept this repeated onslaught on our beautiful environment by the same old offenders.”

Peter, a local member of the historic Open Spaces conservation group, is now trying to pin down who owns the land targeted.

“We found this ecological atrocity on the Airfield Site close to the public footpath between the new Wellington Place housing estate and Gartree Prison,” said the retired insurance surveyor.

“It’s very popular with walkers.

“And this sort of trash is also very dangerous to birds and wildlife as well as to the land and soil itself.

“This ugly toxic mess has got to be properly cleaned up as soon as possible.”

But Peter said he’s having real trouble locating the landowner.

Harborough District Council said the dump is on “private land” – and the issue is now being investigated by its planning compliance team.

Leicestershire County Council said it’s not on their land – and it doesn’t appear to be on the Airfield Business Park either.

“It’s a genuine mystery who owns this swathe of the countryside.

“I just want to know who’s responsible for removing this outrageous tip and getting some action,” declared Peter.

“I’m determined to get this stretch of Market Harborough cleaned up now – let’s see the back of this rubbish now.”