VILLAGERS have been warned against removing an eyesore fly-tip in a Derbyshire field – because they could be prosecuted for fly-tipping.
People living in Aston-on-Trent had approached their parish council about putting together a work party to remove the rubbish on a field off Derby Road and leave it on the lane for South Derbyshire District Council to pick up.
The parish council then asked the district council for advice about clearing the fly-tip, which has been there for several months and includes rubble, tree cuttings, furniture and a freezer.
But parish council chairman Haydn Wheeler said he was told moving the waste would leave the work party open to being prosecuted for fly-tipping.
He said: "It's an eyesore and something needs to be done about it because it's growing. People think they can add more to it because there's rubbish already there."
David Armstrong, a Derby barrister and a consultant for councils on environmental crime, said the work party could have been prosecuted because they would be taking it off one person's land and fly-tipping it on another.
Mr Armstrong said: "It is a case of two wrongs don't make a right. The type of rubbish that is dumped there is not the type that the council would be clearing for free because it's not domestic waste."
A district council spokesman said the location had been used for fly-tipping before, most recently in February. He said the rubbish could pose a danger to the health of anyone who tried to clear it and that the work party could "unwittingly have committed an offence themselves".
He said: "In February, our wardens went out to investigate but found no evidence upon which further action could be taken.
"This time they discovered a substantial amount of waste, none of which poses a public health hazard, and we have some leads which we will be pro-actively pursuing.
"As the waste is on private land it is the landowner's responsibility to remove it. Therefore, our focus now is to get in touch with the landowner at the earliest opportunity to offer advice and support and to put them in touch with a recognised waste disposal expert.
"We will also bring to the landowner's attention any appropriate measures which can be taken to protect the land in the future."
The field is understood to be farmed by a Derbyshire-based tenant farmer but the landowner lives further away.
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