Full of rubbish: The old Tamworth brickworks site at Coledale is a disgrace, according to former Tamworth businesswoman Pauline Young and Coledale resident Dennis Cousins. Photo: Geoff O’Neill
A FORMER Tamworth businesswoman has called on the owners of a vacant Coledale block to clean up their act.
“It’s disgusting and a complete disgrace,” said Pauline Young of the site of the old Tamworth Brickworks in Green St, which has become a dumping ground for rubbish and stolen cars.
Mrs Young said it was a different story in North and East Tamworth with vacant blocks regularly mown and tidied up by their owners.
The site, which borders Green St and Fleming Cr, is littered with broken televisions, beds, old
refrigerators and piles of rubbish.
Coledale resident Dennis Cousins, whose backyard adjoins the site, said he often saw people dumping
rubbish there during the day.
“It’s not like a tip, it is a tip,” said Mr Cousins, who said stolen cars and dead animals were often among the piles of rubbish.
He said he had lived in the area for more than nine years and the problem had been there since the day he moved in.
Mr Cousins said he was concerned that young children who played on the land would be seriously injured, as damaged items and broken glass littered the site and rubbish attracted snakes and vermin.
“Some of the local people here just use it as a dumping ground,” Mr Cousins said.
“They get charged a fee at the Tamworth tip so they just come and dump it here for nothing.”
A spokeswoman for Tamworth Regional Council said that the council had been working with members of the Coledale community for a number of years over the illegal dumping of rubbish on the site.
She said that council has also worked with the various owners of the land to clean up the site successfully, but unfortunately over time the illegal dumping had reoccurred.
In September last year, council adopted a Coledale Illegal Dumping Strategy which was developed in conjunction with NSW Housing.
The strategy is among a range of initiatives which form Tamworth Regional Council’s New Opportunity West Project which will be
implemented in coming months.
