A Mansfield resident is concerned about needles discarded on the doorstep of a next door property.

Currently vacant and offered for sale, the neighbour is understandably concerned and has been in contact with the Estate Agent and owner, but without any success.

Better in such circumstances to contact the Local Authority. They can – and should, but that might take a degree of persuasion – clear and hazardous waste from the garden and bill the owner accordingly.

It is irrelevant whether or not the property is in public or private ownership. If this drug litter, or any other hazardous waste, is in a location that is accessible to the public, and in circumstance where the property owner is unable or unwilling to deal with it, the Local Authority are obliged to act, to make the area safe. There will be a cost, which in the case of fly-tipped waste may be passed onto the hapless property owner, or borne by the Authority.

However, the difficulty in cost recovery, let alone availability of resources to manage these additional tasks, make Local Authorities slow or simply reluctant to act. It is often easier for them to take the legal route, faffing about with Court orders demanding removal of wastes when they could have it done, and an area made safe, in a fraction of that time. The bottom line if to make safe, and it seems that in Mansfield that isn’t happening very quickly.