Fly-tippers desecrate Contin forest track

THE shameless fly-tipping of large commercial fridge-freezers, a pool table and a sofa on a forestry track close to houses in Ross-shire has been condemned as "thoughtless vandalism".

Northern Constabulary has discovered that the abandoned junk on a road between Jamestown and Contin came from a shop after the owner paid someone to take it to the local recycling centre.

Now police are trying to trace those responsible, while the landowners, the Forestry Commission, are faced with the headache and financial repercussions of disposing of the bulky rubbish.

The items, which also include boxes, carpets, paint tins and a golf bag, were discovered this week strewn across the track by a dog walker, who took photographs of the rubbish, which he showed to police on Wednesday.

"This is a horrendous example of fly-tipping by somebody who has obviously been given the job of disposing of this stuff and has taken the easy option of just dumping it from the back of a van," said the local resident, who also pointed out the safety implications of discarding fridges filled with dangerous gas.

Inspector David Greenlees said police had identified where the property came from and enquiries were ongoing to trace who had dumped it.

He said they had spoken to a Ross-shire shopkeeper who told them he had paid someone to take it to the recycling depot in Dingwall.

"When we establish who is responsible for dumping it we will be putting a report in to the procurator fiscal," said the inspector, who said fly-tipping was prosecuted under the Refuse Disposal Amenity Act 1978.

The Forestry Commission owns the track and Hazel MacLean of the North Highland Forest District said the dumped goods would be removed as soon as possible.

She said this would involve either uplifting it and getting permission to take it to a landfill or recycling site, or employing waste service contractors to take it away. "As landowners, if there is fly-tipping on our property we are responsible to go in and clean it up, and we do that as quickly as manpower resources allow," she said.

She said the commission budgeted for the cost of disposing of discarded junk as a miscellaneous expense, adding that household items such as televisions and fridges were left on commission land "fairly regularly".

"It’s crazy because most of what is being dumped would go through a landfill site or recycling point without any problems," she said.

According to Highland Council’s waste services, commercial material such as the shop fridges and pool table would have to be disposed of through private waste service contractors for a fee and was generally not uplifted by the council.

There is a duty of care on the person who produces the waste to ensure it is going to a suitable site and that whoever is transporting it has the relevant licence.

Local ward councillor Audrey Sinclair said, "The forestry tracks in this area are popular for walking and cycling, both by locals and visitors.

"It is a great shame that the beauty of the area has been spoilt by this action, which is nothing less than criminal.

"I hope the police are successful in their enquiries in finding out who has done this and prosecute the offenders.

"Tourism is such an important factor in the economics of our area and we do not want visitors having a bad impression by this thoughtless vandalism."

? Fly-tipping usually occurs to avoid the fee for commercial waste disposal and SEPA claims its costs Scottish councils £2.5 million each year to clear it up.

? Leader — P12.