DISGUSTED residents are up in arms after flytippers dumped rubbish at a popular beauty spot.
Piles of rubbish were found dumped at Highwoods Country Park in Colchester on Saturday morning.
The mound was discarded at the country park’s entrance in Brinkley Grove Road after the vandals broke in through the park gate.
Colchester councillor Gerard Oxford was one of the first people alerted to the crime.
The council then dispatched its neighbourhood team to deal with the situation.
Mr Oxford said: “They had broken through the gate and left a serious mess.
“The neighbourhood team are investigating and I hope those responsible are prosecuted to the full extent.
“Honestly, I don’t think I can repeat what I said when I first saw it but needless to say it is unacceptable and completely unnecessary.
“To make matters worse, it was dumped in the country park, a conservation area, and it’s the taxpayer who is saddled with the bill.
“Flytipping is an absolute scourge in Britain.”
Colchester Council hopes to find the people responsible and take them to court.
Mr Oxford said the neighbourhood team were able to find some important evidence which might lead them to the culprits.
Mr Oxford added: “The neighbourhood team had it all cleared up in one and half hours and not long after I was told that documents had been found.
“I was delighted with the news because the letters contain names and addresses and I’m confident we will find out who did this.
“This really shows that they’ve got a ‘not bothered’ type of attitude.
“I hope they get dealt with and once the neighbourhood team have investigated, the police will be involved.”
“I sent an email to the neighbourhood team thanking them for their work but I want to say again that they were absolutely superb.”
Colchester Council last year launched a new education and public awareness campaign to warn residents about the potential fines they could face for environmental crimes.
It is also installing CCTV at fly tipping hotspots in a bid to catch people in the act.
In 2016-17, Colchester saw 1,591 incidents which cost Colchester Council £95,540 to clear - an increase from 1,502 the year before.
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