Ancient bluebell woodland buried under fly-tipping will require £10m clean-up

The Environment Agency (EA) has been accused of allowing an ancient bluebell woodland to be buried under fly-tipping.

Campaigners have claimed that the agency failed to act after receiving reports that up to 30 trucks a day were dumping illegal waste on a beauty spot in Hoads Wood in Ashford, Kent.

The area is a designated site of special scientific interest, but is now described as an “environmental disaster”.

Campaigners have said the bluebell woodland has turned into a “desolate wasteland” buried under landfill waste, which in some areas is 25-foot deep, despite continuous reporting of fly-tipping to the authorities.

Pictures of the site show the scale of the rubbish mounted up and encroaching on a patch of bluebells, while blue water also swamps the area.

Residents fear toxic liquid from the site could end up in the river, and also report the “nasty” rotting eggs smell of toxic gas hydrogen sulphide coming from the waste, which could be harmful to wildlife and the wider community.

The Rescue Hoads Wood campaign group said local people were reporting that trucks were dumping illegal waste to authorities from July 2023, and earlier cases of illegal activity were reported in 2020.

A Rescue Hoads Wood campaigner, who wished to remain anonymous, said the EA acted “too little too late” in closing access to the site on Jan 16.

It is understood the agency was notified in August about the waste and began gathering evidence for enforcement action.

The community member said: “They’ve almost let the site fill up to capacity before they shut it off.

“The whole system is broken. They can’t talk about ‘we’re under-resourced, we’re underfunded’. My response is that’s just total rubbish, because there’s at least 20 people I know of that were the bodies on the ground, the eyes and ears telling you that something highly illegal was going on.

“Yet you chose to leave it, there’s no excuse right?”

They added surveys now estimate 27,000 tonnes of processed waste needs to be cleared, with an estimated budget of £10 million including taxes and contingencies to cover the costs based on a quote from a local contractor.

Following several public meetings since the EA closed the woodland, the campaigner said residents have given the government body a deadline of May 17 to come up with a budget to contract the work, which could take six months to complete.

The agency is currently assessing the risks to nature and the environmental impact of the waste on local air and water quality.

The Rescue Hoads Wood spokesman said: “I’ve even smelled it from my bedroom on one occasion. Interestingly, at the moment, it’s not too bad because it’s quite breezy. But this is decaying gypsum and organic matter in the site.

“It’s a feeling of being poisoned. And the only way when it’s here you can escape it is by leaving your property and leaving the area completely.”

A spokesman for Ashford Borough Council, which is investigating the reports of odour nuisance, said to date it has been “unable to establish that the issues have crossed the threshold of a statutory nuisance”.

“We continue to liaise with the relevant agencies, such as Natural England and the Environment Agency, with reference to plans for addressing the issues on site, and their plans for further monitoring,” he said.

A petition by campaigners calling for the immediate clean-up of the woods has reached more than 6,500 signatures.

The Rescue Hoads Wood campaign has also received backing from charities including Kent Wildlife Trust, South East River Trust, the Woodland Trust, as well as TV presenter and naturalist Chris Packham.

He shared a Rescue Hoads Wood video of the waste on X, formerly Twitter:

In a letter to the Environment Secretary, six charities urged the EA to immediately secure funding to clear the site and restore the woodland to its natural state.

They said: “Despite early alerts, a lack of prompt and effective intervention allowed the situation to deteriorate drastically into an environmental disaster.

“The consequences of this inaction are profound. The accumulation of waste not only poses a significant threat to the area’s biodiversity, undermining the habitat of scarce flora and fauna, but it also adversely affects the mental health and well-being of the nearby community.”

An EA spokesman said it is aware of the impact fly-tipping has on communities and is determined to “keep one step ahead” of the criminals.

They added: “That’s why we are pushing forward with our investigations against those suspected of illegal tipping activities of commercial waste at Hoads Wood - with support from Natural England, Forestry Commission, Kent County Council and Kent Police Rural Task Force.”