Brighton: Dog walker dumps rubbish outside council offices

Chris Pickles carried the black bags, filled with rubbish, to Hove Town Hall yesterday in the hope that it would encourage Cityclean to take action on the mound of waste left at Stanmer Park.

The rubbish at Chalk Hill (Image: Supplied)

And less than two hours after he left the bags outside the council's head office, the pile of rubbish at Chalk Hill was collected by a council worker in a pickup truck.

"I looked at it and my stomach just turned," Chris said. "I thought the only thing to do is to take it down to the council so it makes the point."

Chris taking the rubbish to the front entrance (Image: Andrew Gardner / The Argus)

The dog walker says he spends around £600 per year on parking at the site.

"We are paying for the privilege of not having it collected," he said.

"What the hell are we paying for? There are lots of management layers in the council who do sod all. They are passing the buck all the time and there are no decisions.

"Nobody is doing their job properly, it feels like nobody is bothered since Covid."

A council employee looks at the rubbish on his way into the building (Image: Andrew Gardner / The Argus)

The pile of rubbish outside the main entrance caught the eye of security staff and other council officials, who stopped to look at the bags - with some even taking pictures.

Chris, who runs dog walking company Waggy Walks, added: "I hope that it embarrasses somebody. I do not know who it is going to embarrass but there are so many levels of management in Cityclean and nothing is happening at Chalk Hill."

The bin bags were left by the main entrance (Image: Andrew Gardner / The Argus)

There used to be a bin at the site but this was removed around two years ago, Chris said.

He added: "Given that I could have brought around 17 bin liners to the town hall, this clearly demonstrates the need for one, and more importantly for it to be serviced continuously."

Councillor Tim Rowkins, chairman of the council’s city environment, South Downs and the sea, said: “This site is notorious for illegal flytipping and we try to clear the area as much and as often as possible.

“Bollards were erected to stop vehicles from entering the park to flytip, but this unfortunately hasn’t stopped people who are determined to dump their unwanted rubbish instead of taking it to one of our recycling centres.

“We understand the frustration of residents when we don’t removed rubbish as soon as we’d like to.

“But this doesn’t mean a member of the public can dump rubbish outside Hove Town Hall or any other building as this is flytipping in itself and is liable to a fine of up to £600.”