Gorgie-Dalry community council offer solutions and analysis on fly tipping problem

Recommendations on how to tackle fly tipping in the Sighthill-Gorgie ward has been shared with Edinburgh City Council by the community council of Gorgie-Dalry in a recent report.

Fly tipping and dumping is rampant in the Gorgie-Dalry community

The community council has painstakingly produced a five-year report that explores various elements of fly tipping and dumping in Edinburgh’s worst impacted area.

The report analyses who is predominantly responsible as well as offering suggestions for how to overcome the issue.

The report said: “Community Councillors and residents have reported regularly witnessing trades vehicles and private vehicles driving into Gorgie/Dalry, parking by communal bins, and dumping items next to or into communal bins. This also means that bins are sometimes too full for residents to use.”

Fly tipping debris

Council data shows that residents in the ward had logged 1,170 requests for fly-tipped or dumped items to be removed from January to November in 2020.

The Leith Walk ward was a very distant second with 784 reports in the last year - making the Sightill-Gorgie area a clear leader throughout the Capital.

Around 12 percent of all reported incidents have come from the west Edinburgh ward.

And the report by the community council states that nine out of 10 of the worst streets reside within the Gorgie-Dalry area.

League table of incidents in council wards

The worst affected streets in the ward were: Stewart Terrace, Springwell Place, Gorgie Road, Wardlaw Street, Wardlaw Terrace, Dalry Road, Duff Street, Caledonian Crescent and Caledonian Place.

The community council report recommends that the council should undertake the following measures to help tackle the problem.

It adds: “An increase in the number of street enforcement officers to report illegal dumping and issue fines. This would reduce the burden of reporting from residents, and crucially would deter repeat offenders.

“A reassessment of the amount of money currently allocated to tackling fly tipping within the CEC budget, with transparent explanations to Gorgie/Dalry residents as to how Council Tax revenue is currently being spent, and how the waste budget is allocated across the city.

“Free uplift days, where the CEC places skips and cages across Gorgie/Dalry on designated days for residents to dispose of larger waste items.

“And a review of successful fly tipping reductions in other wards, such as Leith Walk and the Pentland Hills, and to work with GDCC and other local community groups to understand what lessons can be applied to tackling fly tipping in Gorgie/Dalry.”

Cllr Lesley Macinnes, Environment Convener, said: “It’s always really disappointing to see fly tipping spoiling our beautiful city and we appreciate there has been a lot of cases in this area. The selfish actions of a few can really affect those living in a local community and there is no excuse for it. We have a simple booking system for residents to access our Household Waste Recycling centres and a special uplift service that costs only £5 per item to legally dispose of unwanted bulky household waste.

“We’re constantly tackling issues such as those highlighted here and the team is currently handling a small number of complaints for the Sighthill/Gorgie area. Our enforcement team will continue to work closely with cleansing colleagues to remove items as quickly as possible and we’ll continue to undertake patrols and surveillance in this location where we can.”

You can access the report here.

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