Pile of rubbish is left on pavement on busy street in Southend

A bed and other rubbish appeared in London Road, Westcliff yesterday leaving the council to pick up the cost of removing it.

The council tweeted: “ This unsightly mess on London Road, opposite Westcliff Library, was reported to us yesterday.

“Fly-tipping costs us £1,000s every year – money that could be better spent on caring for vulnerable people or maintaining roads. Please share & help us find the culprit.”

Councillors in Westcliff say flytipping is a growing problem.

Westborough ward councillor Kevin Robinson, said: “It’s awful. We have discussed at full council how this is increasing at the moment. We’re getting a lot more reports on flytipping from residents’ associations and residents.

“I saw today a sofa and fridge had been placed on the pavement in Hainault Avenue which I am reporting. We have an issue where people move out of rented properties and leave unwanted items on the pavement.”

Mr Robinson added: “It’s an ongoing issue and we’re asking residents to work with us on this. It’s a problem right across the borough and causes lots of issues.

“We have arrangements for clearing flytipping. All councillors can ither go directly to Veolia or let the council’s street team know and they alert Veolia to collect it but this is on top of their normal work. It slows them down and costs us more.”

Fellow ward councillor Charles Willis said: “Several years ago when we were negotiating a new waste contract we considered asking for items like this to be picked up for free but that didn’t happen.

“It is a problem in Westborough where a lott of rubbish is also dumped in alleyways and even on people’s driveways.

“Residents have woken to find a load of rubbish dumped on their drive and like alleyways, becuase it is private property the council won’t collect it.

“In the summer we arranged an alley clearance and collected 8.5 tonnes of rubbish that had been dumped in alleys over about two years. It filled three waste carts.

“One option is to