Soho residents' anger at fly-tipping

BirminghamWorld

Locals living in the Soho area of Birmingham say shameless fly-tippers and drug-addled 'zombie' addicts have turned their neighbourhood into a no-go zone

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00:00I'm the owner of Ria's Beach Hot Plunge. This plot of land is right next door to my shop

00:07and it's been building over the past 5-6 years since it's been sold off to a private owner.

00:14Prior to that it was maintained, well maintained. You know we used to have children playing football on it.

00:20You know people would walk their dogs on it. And now lately it's just become a common dumping ground for everyone.

00:27We've got everything from the kitchen sink, to toilets, to bathrooms, to bedrooms.

00:32You know, everything you can find in there. All the junk's here.

00:36People come along, throw everything out. And for me, being right on my doorstep,

00:42I've got rats running around and I'm losing business because women are walking in and they think it's our mess.

00:49After speaking to various newspapers, councillors, local councillors,

00:55they did put up CCTV cameras on one of the lampposts here to try and get shots of people who are fly-tipping.

01:03But I don't know how successful that is.

01:08We run a business here for over 30 years, buying uniforms.

01:13This area, it's just gone, it's ruined. I mean drugs, rats, people throwing rubbish.

01:20Council are not doing nothing. Police just drive past, ignore it. What are we supposed to do?

01:25The council, I've written emails to them. Lord Mayor, contacted Lord Mayor, nothing happens.

01:33We'd like this to go back to what it was. Nice, well-tamed, well-maintained, clean.

01:40And I don't know how it's going to happen.

01:42Or whoever owns it, at least board it up, or at least do something to it and get rid of this mess.

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