AN INVESTIGATION is ongoing after a massive illegal waste dump was cleared from open land near Salfords train station.
More than 500 tonnes of towering rotting rubbish has been cleared from the industrial site between the station and Brighton Road over the past few weeks in what a Network Rail spokesman described as the company's "largest ever clean-up".
But while nearby residents celebrated the removal of the smelly site, authorities still do not know how it ended up there.
"The site has been made secure to help prevent flytipping, on any scale, from happening here again," said Network Rail's Jon Crampton. "Dumping rubbish is illegal and anti-social and we work with British Transport Police to trace those responsible."
The rail company and police, along with the Environment Agency, are now trying to track down those responsible for dumping the waste.
But while Hayley Willoughby from the Environment Agency confirmed the investigation is continuing, she was unable to provide details on its progress.
At the time, residents had reported hearing trucks driving to and from the site – always at night – before they alerted authorities to the problem.
There was confusion at first over who owned the site before Network Rail took responsibility for the clean up.
One resident who spoke to the Mirror after the rubbish had been removed said: "It's a lot more healthy around here now because the smell around here was really bad – it was unbelievable. I think it's about time they did something with the land over there. They could make it into car parking for the station and that would stop it happening again."
Salfords and Sidlow Parish Councillor Dave Brown said: "It took a hell of a long time to get completely cleared and it took a lot of work by local people – and the parish council."
He added: "They had to investigate the type of waste because it needed careful handling but we would have all wished for it to have been cleared earlier."
