Gulworthy Parish Council has expressed concern over increased incidents of fly tipping during the temporary closure of Crowndale Road and the Household Waste Recycling Centre.

The Devon County Council website states that Crowndale Road remains closed until (and including) Friday, August 26 for South West Water to undertake extensive repairs of the main sewer under the road. The recycling centre remains accessible by car from the western direction, it is only accepting green and garden waste (and no other waste types) during this period. This is due to a low bridge on the diversion route preventing HGVs from accessing the site to remove waste. However, Gulworthy parish councillors have spoken out about fly tipping incidents they believe are increasing as a result of this closure.

Gulworthy parish councillor Wendy Miller said: ‘People are coming all the way up here to Gulworthy, following the diversion route to access Crowndale Road from the west and finding they can’t dump anything but green waste. As a result, the neighbouring entrance to the quarry has a had loads of stuff dumped in it. The entrance is now filling up with a big pile of rubbish bags. I know fly tipping occurs in nearby woods down the lane even when the centre is open as normal but I think now people are just feeling inclined to add their rubbish to the pile. I have reported this to West Devon Borough Council.’

Councillors are reminding local residents that fly tipping is a criminal offence which can lead to serious fines and they should make full use of their curbside recyclcing and that the Ivybridge and Okehampton recycling centres are open for use as alternatives in the meantime.