Fly-tipping fears raised after heap of building waste found

Fears have been raised that withdrawal of the rural skips service could lead to a big increase in illegal fly-tipping, after a heap of rubbish was discovered near Sandwick.

Bigton resident Sarah Ashmead contacted The Shetland Times after she noticed a “quite large” pile of rubbish had appeared in the last few days in an old quarry in the hills nearly a mile from the main road.

The debris appeared to be building waste, and she said: “Is this a sign of things to come now that builders haven’t got the local skips to take advantage of ?

“There are quite a few sheep around that might be affected by this rubbish and how soon will it be before the large plastic bags get caught up in the wind and end up who knows where?”

The council is planning to remove skips from rural communities from Monday, to be replaced by a paid-for “bulky uplift service”, probably on a six-week cycle.

The move was agreed during a budget-setting meeting in February, when councillors voted by a large majority to withdraw the service, which costs £70,000 per year.

 Full story in this week’s Shetland Times.