There are fears that fly-tipping will only get worse after the Canal & River Trust closed the Bathampton waste site which was used by hundreds of people.
The final Biffa waste collection at the site on Monday 11th March | Photo supplied
The Canal & River Trust (CRT), which is a charity, says fly-tipping has made the site “unsustainable and unfit for purpose”.
It gave the community a week’s notice of the closure, which was implemented on Monday (11th March).
Local residents, itinerant boaters and long-term mooring holders say there was no consultation on CRT’s “abrupt and final decision” concerning the waste site, which is on land owned by Bath & North East Somerset Council.
They understand that the council sued CRT for neglecting to resolve the issue of fly-tipping and that the charity has been given until Friday 15th March to resolve the problem.
Those affected by the decision include business licence holders (including Airbnb boats), continuous cruising licence holders, and permanent mooring holders who bid high rates for moorings that were described as having such facilities.
Contractor Biffa picked up waste for the last time on Monday morning and reportedly plans to collect the containers later this week, as well as removing the compound, leaving boaters with nowhere to dispose of their bins on the busiest part of the network.
A petition – https://chng.it/4QvTWJdcMB – to CRT was started last week which has been signed by more than 300 people.
Petitioners say the decision goes against CRT’s six stated priorities which include delivering the basics well and improving infrastructure resilience.
With nowhere for boaters to throw their waste, they highlight the environmental impact on the local community, including the nearby primary school, and wildlife.
They say the decision will create “a perfect storm of problems” that will burden local government, and since the facilities are on B&NES Council grounds, they have also contacted the council.
The petition says: “While we understand that the CRT has suffered a substantial funding shortfall due to a recent government decision, we – as licence-paying service users – feel that the organisation should not seek to cut costs by removing vital refuse collecting facilities in one of the busiest parts of the network, and an area designated as a Conservation Area and one of Outstanding Natural Beauty.”
The petition says the bins in Dundas and in Bath are overburdened already and will not be able to cope with the surplus waste.
“Service users will struggle to find anywhere to throw their waste, which will result in more pollution for the environment. Realistically, some boaters will unfortunately opt to burn their waste, others will fly-tip along the canal.
“Many more service users will now have to drive to empty their bins, which will result in more pollution for the environment as well as even more congestion along Warminster Road.
“People will continue to fly-tip at the closed Bathampton facility, the village will become like the Naples of the UK due to this uncollected waste.” (A reference to the Italian city’s problems with rubbish).”
The petitioners say the problem with the misuse of the bins in Bathampton has been known to CRT for a number of years: “All local leisure mooring permit holders and countless continuous cruisers have witnessed small vans emptying their waste at night or cars pulling up at all hours of the day to throw bins over the low wall and straight into or on top of the containers.
“Some of us spend our evenings trying to tidy this up. These are easily accessible since the facilities are constantly left wide open for the world to use.”
They say the bins need to be fully contained by building a simple roof on the compound and solidifying its structure, and a proper lock needs to be built into the door which will only be accessible to British Waterways/CRT key-holders.
“These practices are common across the network, but for some reason CRT has chosen not to implement these in Bathampton. This two-fold solution is simple and very cost-effective for CRT and its customers, since clearly paying for constant contractor collection of bulky items has not been sustainable.”
They add it would be a one-off cost that the trust could even commission service users for, as there are many professional and experienced carpenters who own boats, use those bins, and know exactly what is required.
The petition notes that mooring holders in Bathampton are particularly distraught by the removal of the waste facility, which was an important factor in attracting them to the moorings, and a determining factor in the high amounts they were willing to pay.
“For this to come at a time when CRT has just announced a very high phased increase in licence fees, as well as a 5% increase in overall mooring fees, is deeply troubling.”
On the Canal & River Trust’s website the charity apologises for the closure of the Bathampton waste site, saying: “The fly-tipping that is occurring at this site is unsustainable and has made it unfit for purpose.”
It adds: “This land belongs to Bath and North East Somerset Council – please do not leave waste here after the final collection.”
It gives the nearest waste compounds from Bathampton as Dundas (2.5 miles east) and Lock 11 Horseshoe Bridge (2 miles west).
The Bath Echo has asked both the Canal & River Trust and B&NES Council if they wish to comment.
