Residents breathe a sigh of relief

It was last week when local homeowners started to notice a much higher number of flies than normal.

Having reported it to the council, investigations began and an illegal waste tip was uncovered at the former dye works on Netherton Road.

One local resident living next door claimed life has been intolerable. She said that lorries started arriving in February, but because the waste is contained within a huge 400 foot shed, no one knew what was going on.

Kenny Boag, Sepa’s head of operations for the south west, said: “Sepa has been working closely with the landowner over the last couple of days to agree the spraying of waste at Netherplace Dye Works to control flies and we are confident that this will commence today.

“The prime responsibility of our officers is to ensure that this waste is removed safely and in a manner that will not exacerbate the problems being suffered by local residents.

“We recognise that time is of the essence given the scale of impact associated with this site, especially the fly infestation, and after providing the landowner’s contractor with advice and assistance, we are confident that this will allow waste to leave the site in a safe and legal manner starting from today.

“An essential role for Sepa going forward is to identify the persons responsible for this act and we have designed our investigation to run alongside any removal works, so that we do not impeded the rate at which this site is cleared.”