The people of Workington are being treated like ‘second-class citizens’ after months of their town being used as a ‘dumping ground’ by fly-tippers, a fed-up resident has claimed.

The issue has blighted the Oldside area of Workington for months and, despite calling for action, the resident believes Allerdale Council is ‘ignoring’ the issue.

Items discarded in the area include play sets, reels of cardboard, bags of rubbish and even human faeces, which have been spotted by those walking by.

After appealing to the council to clear up the mess in February, one man has had enough and slammed the authority over the problem.

News and Star: Residents are once again calling for action as fly-tipping continues to blight Oldside, WorkingtonResidents are once again calling for action as fly-tipping continues to blight Oldside, Workington

“Are we in Workington second-class citizens?” the Workington resident – who wished to remain anonymous – said.

“This was once a beauty spot that residents enjoyed using and I’m concerned that it has been left like this for the length of time it has.

“If it was Silloth Green or Allonby, would the landowner have been ignored by the authority responsible for controlling this behaviour?”

He added: “The council seems to be incompetent or just ignoring the issue.

“When challenged they say, ‘We know about it and have plans to clean it up’.

“But by allowing more and more tipping [at Oldside] like they seem to be doing is just adding to the clean-up bill – one the tax payer is picking the tab up for.”

A council spokesperson said: “We take all matters of fly-tipping seriously and we will, in line with our powers, issue fixed penalty notices against those who break these laws wherever possible, and people may also be prosecuted if fly-tipped items can be traced back to them, even if they weren’t the person who dumped them.

“Recently we issued a £300 FPN to a resident in Workington who’d failed to ensure their goods were disposed of by an appropriate person, passing them on to an unknown person off Facebook who later dumped them.”

They added: “We work alongside our contractor Tivoli to clear away fly-tipped items from our communities and at Oldside in particular, regular, larger-scale clean-ups are carried out. Additionally, as part of the 2021/22 council budget, we are supporting the delivery of a project to introduce new and innovative ways to reduce fly-tipping in the borough with this work driving forward the ambition set out in our 10-year council strategy for a ‘cleaner, greener Allerdale’."

The council said it would encourage people to 'act responsibly' and recommended instances of fly-tipping be reported through the 'myAllerdale' smartphone app.