Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs – in the Senedd at 1:31 pm on 10 March 2021.
Thank you for that answer, Minister. I know you will be aware that I've raised the serious situation with fly-tipping in the Marshfield and Duffryn areas of my constituency on many occasions. The infamous 'road to nowhere' is a hotspot for it on an industrial scale—hundreds of tonnes of rubbish stretches as far as the eye can see, and it recently featured on the BBC's Panorama programme 'Rubbish Dump Britain'. These scenes are a national embarrassment, and the proximity to the M4 means this spot is used by those firms who claim to get rid of rubbish legally but instead dump it illegally. The criminality is shocking. Local groups who are intent on cleaning the area have found evidence of waste from areas such as Bristol, the midlands, other parts of Wales, and much further afield. Dedicated local residents have formed a group to try and tackle the problem, and it features interested parties. However, progress is painfully slow and the scale of what's happening means that local government is stretched. The pollution caused and the sheer amount of dumped rubbish means that the clear-up costs will be high, and they need Welsh Government support. I'd urge the Minister to please look again at what intervention the Welsh Government can do at the 'road to nowhere' to clean up the area, and I'd urge the Welsh Government to work with Newport City Council and residents to find a purpose for the land, which is the best way of protecting the environment and preventing this from happening in the future.