Will they ever clear up this tip?
A towering pile of rubbish has not been touched in 10 months - despite the man at the centre of the row being jailed for failing to clear it up.
The mountain of waste at the former Refuse Derived Fuel Ltd industrial yard in Moor Street, Brierley Hill, stands still at 19ft high.
Company director Robert McNaughton served a term in jail earlier this year for failing to comply with a court order to clear up the site.
But despite his release and the launch of legal action by the Environment Agency to seize assets from McNaughton to pay for the clean-up, the waste has not been touched for 10 months and people living nearby say they are starting to fear it will never be removed.
While he was in prison, the landlords to the yard removed some bales from the front of the site in January.
Environment Agency bosses have yet to reveal more about what are the next steps it can take to ensure the waste is removed.
Spokeswoman Harriet Templar-Vasey said: "Unfortunately no more waste has been removed from the Refuse Derived Fuels site.
"We're continuing to work on legal steps to require the director Robert McNaughton and, or the landowners to remove the waste.
"Once we have more certainty on this we will explain what is happening to local residents."
Jeff Clarke, aged 71, who lives in Moor Street, said: "It's been so long, you start to give up hope it will ever be cleared - the whole process has come to a stand-still.
"The Environment Agency want a resolution, but no-one will put their hand in their pocket to pay for it.
"The agency, and rightly so, want the people behind it to pay for it, but that seems to be where we've hit a problem."
The Environment Agency said about 15 per cent of the total waste at the site was cleared when the bales of mixed material were removed.
Ms Templar-Vasey said: "We understand the frustration of local residents and remain totally committed to ensuring that those responsible for causing this problem are held accountable and remove the materials.
"Currently the volume of waste is stable but should it cause any environmental issues off site, we'll review possible actions then."
The agency was given permission to apply for a sequestration order to seize Mr McNaughton's assets to pay for the clear-up of the site.
