The Environment Agency has obtained a court order restricting access to land in Wigan, Greater Manchester, to prevent illegal dumping of waste.
The order, granted at wigan Magistrates’ Court on 25th February, applies to a site known as ‘The Old Cricket Ground’ in Bickershaw and will remain in force for six months.
Under the restriction, no one may import waste to the land and access is prohibited except for Environment Agency staff and authorised waste removal.
The agency said the measure forms part of its response to ongoing illegal dumping at a nearby site on Bolton House Road, where scrap metal waste had been removed onto the cricket ground land.
‘We’ve taken action to restrict access to this land as part of our ongoing response to the nearby illegal waste site at Bolton House Road,’ Mark Easedale, area environment manager at the Environment Agency, said. ‘We have immense sympathy for the local community affected by this waste crime, which continues to have an impact on the people who live and work in the area.
‘We are doing everything within our powers to identify the perpetrators, including launching a major criminal investigation and interviewing individuals under caution.’
Work is underway with Wigan Council, Greater Manchester Police and Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service to manage the site. Measures already implemented include serving formal notices requiring waste removal and gathering further information from those involved.
In the three years to March 2025, the Environment Agency secured 211 prosecutions, resulting in more than £640,000 fines and 20 custodial sentences. In the past two months, 18 arrests have been made in connection with waste crime.
Anyone with information about illegal waste dumping at the site is being urged to call the Environment Agency incident number on 0800 80 70 60.
Image: John Cameron/UnSplash
In related news:
Police still frontline in mental health crises despite new guidelines
Leave a Reply