AN EYESORE flytipping hotspot has been boarded up after nearly daily complaints from residents.

The patch of empty land in Victoria Street, Dovercourt, has been a target for flytippers for years, with residents and councillors regularly calling for action to tidy it up.

The site is the former car park of the Victoria pub, which was demolished after a fire ripped through the building in 2005.

It is privately owned but, with the permission of both the landowner and Tendring Council contractor Veolia, was used as a communal waste facility with three bulk bins placed there for residents of the road and East Street to use to dispose of household waste.

Over the past decade the site has also become used for flytipping, with waste dumped and vehicles abandoned there.

Each time the rubbish, which had included sofas, televisions and mattresses, was cleared by council contractors as part of the goodwill arrangement with the landowner in return for the residents’ facility.

But after almost daily complaints from nearby residents about the state of the area, the site has been cleared, boarded up and will be painted. Garry Calver, Tendring councillor for the road, said: “I’m extremely grateful to the team of officers at Tendring Council who have worked so hard to bring this to a satisfactory conclusion.

“There really have gone the extra mile to prevent this site from continuing to be an eyesore and a health hazard.”

In the past residents have complained about the smell from the dumped rubbish and “uncontrollable flies”.

Harwich and Manningtree Standard:

David Smith campaigned for action at the site last year after coming across what he branded was the worst flytipping he had ever seen.

He said: “They cleared it up but then a couple of days later the flytipping was back, it was getting really bad. I’m really pleased they have boarded it up, it looks a lot better than having all that rubbish on there.“It’s a great improvement.”

Within the last 18 months Tendring Council has received 2,139 reports of fly tipping, ranging from bin bags dumped in an alley to builders’ rubble and asbestos piled high on public open spaces.

A spokesman said often a homeowner has paid someone to clear the rubbish, and is unaware that it has been dumped illegally.

The Essex-wide Crime Not To Care campaign was launched last year to raise awareness of the issue.