Questioning of the West End’s problems with fly-tipping with MP and local community group BARTA.
Over the past decade, with cuts to local governments, work begins to pile up; quite literally in the case of fly-tipping. There are many local community groups who passionately care for the environment they reside in such as Bank Street and Area Residents and Traders Association (BARTA). With monthly litter picks, their work keeps the West End clean and promotes neighbourly relationships.
However, the issue of fly-tipping is becoming overbearing and inflicting a biodiversity crisis across Glasgow. According to the house of commons library, fly-tipping: “is the illegal disposal of household, industrial, commercial or other ‘controlled’ waste. The waste can be liquid or solid. ‘Controlled’ waste includes garden refuse and larger domestic items such as fridges and mattresses”.
Under environmental protection it is the government’s job to prevent and resolve fly-tipping as its impact goes beyond being an inconvenience for the public but transpires to an environmental health hazard. Through an interview with labour MP Martin Rhodes and by attending BARTA’s AGM on the 12 November I discussed the issue of fly-tipping in the West End and attempted to uncover the root of the continuous problem. As Rhodes states: “There [are] a whole range of reasons why fly-tipping takes place and it’s done by a whole range of people. It’s not one group of people that’s responsible for fly tipping”, before adding that “one of the issues you’ve got with fly tipping is the most likely place where someone will fly tip is where somebody has already fly tipped”. He proceeded to explain that actions need to be taken swiftly to prevent the build up from worsening.
Although local governments seem to lack the funding and resources necessary to tackle this. According to Rhodes: “we need to fund local authorities better, so that they can deliver those services, we need to make sure also that local authorities are supporting local groups and community groups that are doing things in the area. And make sure they’re getting the support they need”. One of the conclusions both Martin Rhodes, BARTA meeting members and I came to is that due to the vast amount of HMOs (housing of multiple occupations) present in the Hillhead and surrounding areas, some absentee landlords might be responsible. It is well known student housing is a goldmine for property profits, with flat deposits often being over £3000 and monthly rent prices being abysmal, it would be unsurprising to find some landlords, and more likely, letting agencies being a core polluter in this problem. Rhodes backed this claim explaining “one of the issues in areas where there are high numbers of HMOs is that there are some landlords and agents who will just leave, clear out a flat and leave stuff in the street to be picked up. In order to avoid paying commercial charges for removing waste”.
At the BARTA meeting, the difficulty of punishing letting agencies was discussed as often they can hide behind the ambiguity of being unable to locate specific flats (when they typically own many tenements in a close) that would prove their complicity. When money is the main priority, the turnover of students in HMO flats occurs at a swift pace, leaving little room to follow correct procedures. For tenants living in a house owned by letting agencies, it may be intimidating to speak up on these issues of fly-tipping due to fears of being mistreated as a result. BARTA has assured these tenants that they have a safe space to come forward and anonymously report these issues.
For those who need to get rid of furniture, the British Heart Foundation and Debra will take donations and pick up free of charge. Rhodes also explained that in terms of groups such as BARTA: “I do think in terms of local governments they could be doing more to support those sorts of groups, but that doesn’t mean that those local groups and community groups are a substitute for the statutory services the councils should be delivering”. However; with cuts to funding when: “you do have a high number of hmos, you do also have a high number of private lanes that are not owned or adopted by the council and it’s understandable that when the council has reductions to their resources, that their ability to help out people in terms of private property becomes more difficult”. When questioned on how we should go forward with these issues Rhodes explained we need to: “get people together, to sit down and actually work out what the solution might be”. Or I might suggest, in the case of an environmental crisis, we need to put our money where our mouth is.
Photo Credits: Mark Wilson, BARTA
