Ferguslie Park residents are weighing up whether to stand sentry over their community – and stop brazen fly-tippers who continue to plague the Paisley area.
The latest incident happened at the end of last week with piles of timber, plumbing equipment, mattresses and a kitchen sink all dumped close to St Mirren’s SMiSA stadium.
And cheesed-off locals have had enough, saying they will man the streets to counter those who blight that corner of Paisley.
Ferguslie Community Council chair Terry McTernan told the Paisley Daily Express: “Community members are so outraged by this that there are now talks of public protests or potential overnight watch points manned by volunteers demonstrating the community’s determination to stamp this outrageous behaviour out.”
The community has done much in recent years to shed a negative image but incidents like these – which were witnessed by visitors to the area for Saints’ home match with Dundee United on Saturday – tarnish that hard work.
Terry explained: “The impression this gives visitors to the community, particularly football fans, is a world away from the diligent and hard-working community that Ferguslie Park is.
“Over recent years, local volunteers have worked tirelessly to improve their local environment with local groups including Pals of the Privies and Darkwood Crew reclaiming and regenerating our green spaces helping shift local attitudes to fly-tipping and littering more broadly.
“It is truly insulting that commercial waste is being regularly dumped in our community. Ferguslie Park is our home and not anyone’s dumping ground.”
Previously, the Tannahill estate had been used as a waste disposal area by cowboy traders who took advantage of the empty buildings awaiting demolition to leave their waste in the area illegally.
However, with the demolition well underway and the estate fenced off, dumb dumpers have just decided to offload at the next available spot – in this instance, Craigielea Drive and Duns Avenue.
Renfrewshire Council’s environmental taskforce has since removed the waste and says material found at the site has led to the identification of those responsible. A joint investigation with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) is currently underway.
A spokesperson for the council said: “There is no excuse for fly-tipping. It is illegal, unsightly and damages the environment. Local council taxpayers and businesses also have to foot the bill for cleaning it up.
“Our environmental taskforce are dedicated to catching fly-tippers in the act. They carry out daily proactive visits to hot spot areas and respond to reports from councillors and the public.
“Our team has removed the fly-tipping outside SMiSA and identified the offender through evidence provided by our Team Up to Clean Up volunteers. An investigation is underway with the support of colleagues in SEPA.
“Offenders should be aware that much of the evidence now collated by our environmental taskforce is volunteered from the public through eye-witness statements, dash-cam or personal CCTV footage.
“We encourage residents to report fly-tipping to us and provide us with any evidence they have about who is responsible. We will then do everything we can to make sure they are held to account. We are working hard to improve our local environment in Renfrewshire so let’s work together to stop fly-tipping.”
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