Falkirk Council: Fly-tipping that led to Braes road closure came from outwith Falkirk district

The offenders have now been served with Fixed Penalty Notices (FPN) and Falkirk Council says it wants to “assure communities that we will take necessary action wherever evidence can be retrieved”.

The council says it has also contacted environment watchdog SEPA to assist with “appropriate action” due to the scale of the incident – including the potential for increased financial penalties to the perpetrators.

The massive amount of rubbish that was dumped overnight, just off the B8022 near Slamannan, caused the road to be closed while Falkirk Council teams cleaned up the mess and looked for evidence about who had caused it.

Councillor Iain Sinclair, SNP portfolio holder for climate change, said: “The scale and manner of this fly tipping incident reflects the fact that unscrupulous individuals, with no regard for our local communities and the impact fly-tipping has, are recklessly dumping waste that was never destined for our household waste recycling centres.

“We continue to condemn any fly-tipping in the strongest terms and assure communities that we will take necessary action wherever evidence can be retrieved. Our teams moved swiftly to remove the waste, investigate and issue FPNs as soon as possible and I look forward to the outcome of any further investigations taken forward by SEPA.”

Following the incident, the Labour group leader had criticised the fact that Falkirk agreed had in December to get rid of its environmental protection team, who investigate fly tipping offences.

Councillor Anne Hannah said: “The Falkirk area is now a fly-tippers’ paradise, and we can expect more scenes like this one.”

Mrs Hannah also criticised other recent changes to waste services, such as charging for brown bin collections and special uplifts and introducing a booking system for the district’s recycling centres.

However, the council says that as the evidence suggests that the waste originated from several locations outwith Falkirk district, it is unlikely to be linked to the new booking system.

While there were initial problems when the booking system was introduced to the recycling centres, the council said the new system will stop commercial operators from outwith the district using the Falkirk sites.