TAXPAYERS have been left with a £20,000 clean up bill after flytippers dumped more than 100 tonnes of waste - including asbestos - next to a country park.

Human waste and building materials was among the huge mound of rubble found in Pitsea Hall Lane, Pitsea, close to Wat Tyler Country Park.

The flytipping - almost three times the size of the 300ft stack of rubbish Basildon Council last month cleared off green belt land in front of St Nicholas Church, Laindon - will likely cost the taxpayer an estimated £20,000 due to the dangerous asbestos.

Kevin Blake, deputy leader of Basildon Council, said: “Only complete and utter scum would do something like this.

“Not only is it an obscene thing to do but it’s putting lives at risk because there is disturbed asbestos among the rubble.

“What if a child came into contact with it?

“I’m sure the scum who left it has no regard or care for the lives of residents or the people clearing the waste.

“This could easily cost in the region of £20,000 to clear up because the council will have to hire a specialist firm to clear it.

“The Government needs to change the law to give councils more power over these situations.”

He also called on residents and businesses to only hire workers with official refuse disposal licences.

Basildon Council is currently inspecting the rubbish to find any traces of those responsible. The clean up will then begin.

Stay-at-home mum Lara Smith 29, who lives nearby, said: “It happened over the weekend and we were out so I didn’t see anything, but I saw the mound and it is horrific.

“The Basildon district is fairly built up compared to other areas and we don’t have as much green space. To see it getting ruined like this so often is so upsetting.”

A council spokesman added: “Asbestos is present but we are still in the process of going through it so are unable to give a quantity at this stage.”

his is the third large-scale flytip to mystify the authorities in the past month.

On Friday, May 12 piles of old furniture, discarded food and human waste were dumped in bushes outside the Four Seasons pub, in Victoria Road, Laindon.

It came two weeks after a total of 40 tonnes of rubbish, including human excrement, was found strewn in Westmayne, opposite St Nicholas’s Church. The clean up cost Basildon Council £7,000.

The rubbish appeared after travellers, who were on the green belt site near the 13th century church for less than a week, were evicted.

Anyone with any information about the flytipping can contact the council on 01268 533333 or police on 101.