Patches of grass sit beneath cans and bottles and side streets have become a dumping ground for fly-tippers
A patch of grass now covered by plastic waste in Church Street Park(Image: Derby Telegraph)
A council litter picker says the fight against piling rubbish in one area of Derby is “never ending” – claiming it “isn’t as bad anywhere else in the city”.
We paid a visit to the area surrounding Charlotte Street, off Pear Tree Road after reports of waste piling up in the car park.
The pile is stacked by a cluster of dumpsters and contains everything from disused Deliveroo food carriers to microwave meal containers and cardboard boxes – as well as a swarm of flies making the area feel like home.
We then decided to explore the area a little further – only to find shocking conditions more akin to Raynesway tip than a friendly neighbourhood.
In a short, five-minute walk around the block via Church Street, Rawdon Street and Stanhope Street, a number of alarming discoveries were made.
Fly tipping on Charlotte Street(Image: Derby Telegraph)
Right next to Charlotte Street, on a patch of grass near Lower Dale Road, a series of plastic bottles and drinks cans could be seen strewn under a shaded area by some trees.
On Church Street, piled up furniture, including a kids’ pool table, was stacked by The Full Gospel Church of God car park, but the real horrors were revealed on Church Street Park, on a patch of grass outside the Indian Community Centre.
The grass was hidden beneath the atrocities, which included countless walked-over cans and plastic wrappers, as well as a filled bin bag leaning against some railings.
It’s surely one of the worst examples of pollution available in the city – and it lies in plain sight for all to see.
After noticing the sorry sight, DerbyshireLive paid a visit to the Indian Community Centre to see the impact the mess is having on locals.
Some of the fly tipping on Church Street(Image: Derby Telegraph)
Jagjit Kaur said: “It’s very disappointing because people really should not do this, everybody has their own house and they should use their own bins, or go to the tip.
“A big problem we have here is people feeding the birds in the park, and despite the notice boards telling people not to feed the birds, people still come back and do it. It does attract birds, but also attracts rats and mice.
“When we come here in the morning, the first thing we see is the litter and it’s really horrible. We have complained to the council many times and they are trying to help, but nothing can be done – it just returns the next day if we pick it up.
“Sometimes there are mattresses, sometimes there are trollies and push chairs – people will dump all sorts of things.”
A few minutes away on Stanhope Street and onto Pear Tree Road, the sides of pavements can be seen holding a cache of waste, and empty bread wrappers can be seen floating across the street like tumbleweeds.
Litter on a patch of grass between Charlotte Street and Lower Dale Road(Image: Derby Telegraph)
At this point, we ran into a Derby City Council litter picker near Charlotte Street who spoke to us about the relentless nature of the issue.
“It’s never-ending,” said the worker, who we have kept anonymous.
“I’ve been doing this for a few years now. I’m not always on this route, but in Normanton and Pear Tree’s the backstreets, fly-tipping is just awful.
“On the side streets, it’s fly-tipping, but it’s general [waste] down here [the main road]. They walk along and just don’t bother.
“It’s soul-destroying. It’s worse here than anywhere else in the city.
“I’m from Derby, and I know living conditions are different [elsewhere], but I just can’t understand how they can let this happen.
“In some areas I’ve seen people sweep up a pile of waste, and rather than put it in a bin, they’ll sweep it into the gutters.”
As we continued our walk around the area, we spoke with a local man, Ali Al-Gunaidi, who lives off Pear Tree Road.
The 52-year-old said: “It’s really frustrating, there are so many of us who do our best to keep the area clean, but no matter what you do, the litter comes back the next day.
“It’s a growing problem, the area is getting worse.
“I think things have been worse in the last few months during the hot weather, people just seem to care even less.
“Twenty years ago, things were not as bad. People just had less respect now.”
Another man from Sheffield, but working in Derby, who preferred to remain unnamed, said the area reminds him of an area called Page Hall in Sheffield, a place he says is “known as being one of the worst areas in the country.
“People just have no respect,” he said. “There’s an area in Sheffield called Page Hall that’s known as one of the worst areas in the country – this really isn’t far off. I think the litter might even be worse here.
“How anyone can think this is acceptable just baffles me. There is a serious problem within our culture if people think they can get away with this, or maybe it’s just far too easy to get away with it.
“This was unheard of when I was younger. The place looks like it’s filled with genuine poverty – it isn’t far from a slum.”
Respect Our Streets is an organisation established in 2022 by residents of the Normanton and Arboretum wards, which aims to address the “unsafe” and “unhealthy” environments in the area, which they say has been “neglected for decades”.
The group carries out regular clean-up events and general maintenance around the area, particularly around Church Street park, which they say has become a “hotspot for unsociable activities and where people discard food items such as stale bread and leftover rotten food.”
Despite these efforts, the issue still remains.
Councillor Ndukwe Onuoha, Derby City Council cabinet member for street pride, parks and leisure, said: “We are actively addressing the waste issues near Charlotte Street car park.
“Council teams and local police are working closely together to tackle the problem through increased monitoring, targeted clean-up operations, and direct enforcement action against those responsible, where appropriate.
“While our teams are fully committed to keeping the area safe and tidy, maintaining clean streets is a shared responsibility – we rely on our community to dispose of waste correctly and report fly tipping.
“Together, we can keep our neighbourhoods clean for residents, businesses, and visitors.”