AN area of land in Chard has been given a deep clean and a tidy-up by South Somerset District Council’s streetscene team after it was used for fly-tipping.

The land at Furzehill in Chard forms part of the recreation area owned by the council, but fly-tipped rubbish was also removed from land adjoining the park owned by Yarlington Housing Group.

A large amount of fly-tipping had taken place in recent years and the area was identified by Yarlington as an area for improvement which needed attending to in order to reduce anti-social behaviour such as rubbish dumping.

Seven members of the streetscene team removed seven loads of fly-tipped items and rubbish, taking five hours to do so.

The land is hidden by conifers beside a park area, which used to hide fly-tipped waste.

Plans are now being made to remove the trees in order to open the space up and deter people from fly-tipping.

Cllr Amanda Broom, who represents the area at the district council, said: “After being alerted by concerned residents over issues of anti-social behaviour such as fly tipping, the council has worked exceptionally hard in removing all of the offending items.

“The area has subsequently been cleared and is being managed by the district team. The next stage is to firm plans for potential landscaping in the area.”

The council’s environment spokesman and deputy leader, Cllr Jo Roundell Greene, said: “Our streetscene team has done a fantastic job removing all the waste from this site in order to improve the area and detract from further fly tipping.

“Recognition must go to the land owners, Yarlington Housing Group, for their positive approach to tackling the issues they faced and for asking our experienced streetscene team to help with the fly tipping removal and re-landscaping.”

Work to improve the area is being explored to help stop future fly-tipping.