'The ruining of Campers' Corner'

Fly-tippers 'ruin beauty spot'

Between the old shipyards on the North bank of the river and the wetlands of the Tees estuary, behind the thin line of homes that forms Port Clarence, is the field where Dave Lonsdale used to play as a child.

Looking at what was once called "Campers' Corner", there is little to feel nostalgic about.

Burned and scarred

The grass is knee-high and a minefield of rubble, plastic and who knows what else. David picks his way through it with an undisguised look of anger across his face.

"Going back a few years, it looked just like that patch of grass, just like a lawn, and then people started tipping rubbish over here.

"Like I said, it's not local people who are tipping pickupfuls of rubbish over here, and pickupfuls of kitchens.

"You can see where someone's had a kitchen done, where a builder's done a kitchen and it all gets tipped over here."

The area is scarred by patch-burning of waste and the tree-line is bite-marked, where vans have backed into the woods to unload their waste away from prying eyes.

The Field, as it is known, has two characteristics that make it a target for fly-tipping. Street after street backs onto it, giving vans and even flat-bed-lorries easy access and a choice of escape routes. Furthermore, there is no lighting.

Cheek

They can drive onto the field, lights out, tip where they want and just drive off again Dave Lonsdale

"I was once stood outside the shops just down here, talking to someone and I saw a white pick-up come this way up, full of rubbish," said Dave. "About 15 minutes later the same pick-up came past the other way and it was empty."

Ironically, those who choose to risk dumping here to save a couple of pounds, have had to drive past the Haverton Hill waste recycling centre to get to Port Clarence.

But there is far worse around the corner. In May 2009, the Environment Agency, joined by council workers, local businesses and people from Port Clarence, cleared 100 tonnes of fly-tipped waste from the riverside next to Port Clarence. The haul included a large pile of potentially deadly asbestos.

'Blighting our homes'

Others do not even have the shame to do their dumping out of sight. Mattresses, tyres and even old refrigerators are routinely thrown from vehicles along the roadside, in front of people's houses, outside the gardens where children play.

Waste dumped here has been traced to several companies over recent years and a number of successful prosecutions have come out of that, but now the area along the riverside is to be put under CCTV surveillance.

The hope is that the cameras will deter the habitual fly-tippers who use the site. The worry for some is that cameras at the business premises along the river will send more fly-tippers to the residential area of Port Clarence.