Councillor condemns illegal dumping near Moira

A number of items including old mattresses were dumped on the hard shoulder immediately after the railway bridge on the edge of the main road.

“On Christmas morning, a number of constituents at my church service reported to me that there had been an instance of fly-tipping on the Glenavy Road. I wholeheartedly condemn this dumping,” Cllr Redpath said.

The Ulster Unionist Party representative continued: “Individuals are trying to avoid responsibility for disposing of their waste properly and are shifting the cost of the disposal onto TransportNI. TransportNI are operating in a very challenging budgetary environment and I’m sure we can all agree that they need to focus their resources on repairing roads, pavements and street lights.”

Cllr Redpath stressed that fly-tipping waste so close to a busy road could have posed a serious danger to the safety of drivers and other road users.

“This dumping was a few feet away from a busy main road,” he continued. “There were very high winds over Christmas and had any of this waste been blown onto the main road it could have caused a serious accident.

“I’ve informed TransportNI about the problem and also informed the council’s depot and hope action is taken quickly to remove this waste.

“I would urge any residents who observed this dumping to report any information to the PSNI.

“We all have a responsibility to dispose of our waste properly. It is totally unacceptable for individuals to shirk this duty and pass the cost on to the rest of us through our taxes.”