The council has vowed to get ‘tough’ on fly-tippers after a video emerged last week of a fox scavenging through a gigantic pile of rubbish in Surrey Quays.
The mound of litter was dumped in the car park of Surrey Quays Shopping Centre, directly in front of a sign reading ‘DO NOT DUMP WASTE IN THIS AREA’. While it has since been cleared, the scene highlights the growing fly-tipping problem in the area.
@WISE16, the Twitter account that took the video, told the News that “there is no excuse for this antisocial behaviour”.
The Rotherhithe micro-blogging account said: “The most worrying aspect is the health hazard for the public. It attracts foxes, rats and simply encourages others to carry on with the fly tipping. It is a lack of respect for so many people living in this part of Rotherhithe.
“It is also annoying knowing that Southwark Council offers a great free service to collect many items which were disposed in this spot. It also has a very efficient huge recycling centre in Old Kent Road – the only requirement to use it is to be a resident in the borough.”
Councillor Darren Merrill, Southwark’s cabinet member for environment and public realm, was equally scathing of the people responsible and pledged to take “tough action” against those who committed such crimes. He said: “Despite numerous attempts to tackle the fly-tipping issue at the Surrey Quays Shopping Centre car park, there remains a persistent group of people who spoil the area for everyone else.
“Although we do not manage the site ourselves, we’ve been working with the site owners to help tackle the issue. We’re now clearing up the rubbish on a daily basis and have installed new signage.
“We are also regularly monitoring the CCTV footage and will be taking tough action against anyone found illegally dumping on the site.”
A spokesperson for Surrey Quays Shopping Centre added: “The recycling area in Surrey Quays Shopping Centre’s car park is operated by Southwark Council who were immediately informed of the current incident.”