'Put fly-tipping warning signs in foreign languages' pleads councillor aiming to stop rubbish dumping

Elias Mattu believes many residents do not understand the warning signs installed in various problem areas, including his own Graiseley ward.

The cabinet member for adults is calling for research to be carried out to determine which nationalities dominate certain neighbourhoods, so that appropriate signs can be installed alongside familiar English language signs.

In July councillors and the police made a site visit to unsecured land in Church Road, linking Stafford Road and Three Tuns Lane, where piles of rubbish had been dumped.

Calls for action were made in April after litter including white goods and toys, were dumped in Powell Street and an alleyway behind Lesley Street in Heath Town, and the vacant former Woodbine pub in Wood Lane, Bushbury, was found to be a fly-tipping hot spot in the same month.

Councillor Mattu said: "We have these laws but they are not being enforced. I'm having to report a lot of cases at the moment. I think people who do it should be locked up, it's making a complete mess of out city.

"New signs have been put up, but a lot of the people doing it are foreign and don't understand what they say. I think we need to look at what nationalities are living in particular areas, and put up signs in a language that they will understand."

He added: "It's happening a lot when people are moving house as well. Someone will move out of a property and landlords won't clear it out. Then the new people move in and just dump things wherever. Dalton Street and alleyways in Pennfields are particularly bad for it."