Residents warn unlicensed waste dump is blocking emergency access

Alec Doyle, Local Democracy Reporter

Residents say an unlicensed waste dump is blocking emergency access to a narrow street in north Wales.

An access road that leads to the rear of properties on Health Street in Shotton has been fenced off and rubble and waste dumped inside it.

People living on the narrow residential street just off Rowleys Drive have challenged  the legality of the waste site – which is not listed as a permitted site by Natural Resources Wales  – claiming it has blocked vital rear access to properties, put increased pressure on parking provision and risks attracting vermin.

“It’s an eyesore and it shouldn’t be there,” said resident Andy Gray. “I have seen no evidence there is a permit to dump waste here and it is a vital access point, particularly for emergency vehicles.

“Health Street is very narrow. The rear entry has two narrow access points, a third that is blocked by a bollard and this one, which is wide enough for an ambulance or fire engine to get into.

“As a result this is the main emergency access point for the bottom of the cul-de-sac where the road is really narrow, in case there is any sort of incident.”

The site is between two residential properties. Nick Iles, a landlord who owns one of the houses immediately next to it, said he and his tenants were concerned.

“They are worried because they are suddenly living next to a dumping ground,” he said. “It is having a negative effect on them.

“It is also putting more pressure on parking. Our property has five tenants who mostly work at Deeside Industrial Park. Only two have cars.

“Before this there was space for both cars to be parked near to home without any issue. Now there isn’t because the side road next to the house has been blocked off.

“It surely can’t be right that this area can just be separated off by a fence and waste material piled up in there?”

Flintshire County Council sent officers to inspect the site on Thursday but the authority was unable to comment after inquiries showed the land is classed as unadopted.