Land at the back of empty tower blocks on Roughwood Drive is being used as an illegal dumping ground by an increasing number of people and firms. Other areas in Northwood are regularly used as illegal dumps and this obviously costs the Council a fair sum of money in actually cleaning up the mess as well as creating an unpleasant environment to live in. As our photos show, the rubbish is from various sources, including householders who are too lazy to go to the official dump on the nearby industrial estate, there is also rubbish which is obviously the result of builders who think it'll save them time if they simply dump there rubbish there.

Below - Resident photographs possible Illegal Tipping

A local resident passed Kirkby Times a photograph of what may or may not be a vehicle which is dumping rubbish of some sorts. The spot where the vehicle was seen is covered with rubbish from a variety of sources. Knowsley Council Environment Officials may care to investigate the matter further but the person who took the photo done so as he suspected that it may have been illegally dumping stuff. Maybe there is a legitimate explanation for this vehicle to be at the back of the tower block with a dumper part of the vehicle apparently lowered. Kirkby Times is in no way stating that the firm involved is dumping anything - but in the interests of reporting local news it is worth asking what was happening when the photo was taken.

Below - here is the photograph before we used software to clean it up and magnify the image. An arrow points to the spot where the truck can be seen with the dumper in the raised position.



After we clean up the original photo we can identify pretty clearly the Vehicle in question.

Tower Blocks creating more problems

The two tower blocks on Roughwood drive which are cleared out in anticipation of demolition are the main problem, but even the two blocks still open are suffering from dumping. Below is the latest stolen car to be left there, this one was later set on fire and had been left there for at least 2 days. The cost of clearing away the cars, plus the cost of sending a fully equipped fire crew out, and the police, comes to thousands. Knowsley Housing Trust, who are responsible for the maintenance and security of the tower blocks and surrounding land, have simply let the situation deteriorate. The lack of live in caretakers and the invisible security force which tenants actually pay for, have so far created a massive bill to council tax payers as the areas around the tower blocks become illegal rubbish tips and somewhere to dump the stolen car to later set fire to.