The city no longer holds its position as England’s flying capital, and residents are “embarrassed” to live there. Technological, scientific, and environmental news
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It’s difficult to believe that litter covered the London Borough of Brent once more than it does now.
Although the gleaming arches of Wembley Stadium are sometimes just steps away, its residential streets are full of filth.
Whether it’s a sea of bottles right next to the recycling center, a hollow sofa leaning against a brick wall, or a TV just a few feet away from (but not in) the community trash bin, Brent is covered in bullshit.
“It’s like a garbage dump,” says Robert Hall, who has lived there for nearly 60 years of his life.
Her neighbourhood has transformed into a maze of abandoned cars, litter, and mattresses. It may seem like he’s exaggerating, but in a 20-minute walk from Wembley Park tube, I see a fridge, a TV, a pet cage and countless bags of litter.
He added, “It’s an eyesore. I feel embarrassed when people come.”
And that’s just fine, because it turns out that his friends have told him that they don’t like visiting him anymore.
Robert Hall says he feels ’embarrassed’ when people come to visit him
Fly-tipping can be found everywhere in this part of Brent
an incredible crown
Brent recently earned the unlikely title of flying capital of England.
after recording 35,000 incidents in a single year.
It’s a stain that Brent Council is slowly managing to erase, thanks to its zealous squad of enforcement officers tasked with tracking down the culprits.
“It’s important to be proud of what you do,” says Anka Prikop, enforcement patrol supervisor at Brent Council.
“It may not seem like a lot of work, but it’s gratifying when you catch people.”
following the paper trail
She declares, donning two layers of gloves, “We’re little spies,” and attacks the pile of black bin bags with enthusiasm.
With her makeup, high ponytail, and painted silver nails, she brings remarkable glamour to a decidedly messy job.
Sinking up to her elbows in someone else’s dirt, she begins piecing together 1 square cm of torn pieces of paper.
“You can clearly see there was a delivery label inside.”
But to his disappointment, no smoking gun this time.
The house “went to a lot of trouble just to be torn apart.” [the label] and for us to fail to find [the address].”
His luck changes a few streets over, where a pile of household waste is falling out of a phone box.
Anka rummages through the papers inside. Bingo: A container of medicine with the prescription label still intact.
“We have a name,” she says.
Earlier that week his team had seized a van which they had found flying after finding garbage in the vehicle.
She says many people don’t realise that it is their responsibility to check whether people offering to take away their waste for a good fee actually have a license to do so.
“Often it would be thrown away – sometimes on the same road.”
If caught by Enca, families would be fined.
A national ‘epidemic’
With the help of these inspections and the introduction of new “community skips”, Brent Council is making progress in curbing fly-tipping and lowering its ranking in the league table.
But nationally, the figures have barely budged from about one million incidents per year.
New data for 2024-2025, due out on Wednesday, shows the tide of waste is no closer to receding.
flower bed covered with cut plastic
Dugoli Avenue in Brent
Read more from Sky News:
Sky correspondent’s car attacked
Swapping Wall Street for Frontline
The figures are deemed incomplete, as they exclude instances involving private land, such as farms and National Trust estates. The data also shows that most cases do not result in fines or prosecution.
Local and central governments, according to Clean Up Britain campaigners, have not enforced the law or demonstrated their commitment to catching fly-tippers. He wants stronger enforcement and a maximum fine of £20,000.
The government asserts its commitment to stopping criminals and providing authorities with the necessary tools to combat them.
A spokesperson told Sky News, “Councils are empowered to crush their vans – leaving unsuspecting criminals nowhere to hide.”
Family ‘broken’ by pile of garbage – rats everywhere
Fast forward a few days to Brent; we’re filming at a recycling facility in Wokingham, where vans seized by Brent Council will be crushed.
This is the image the councils and the government want to show you: criminals caught and published.
But right now, in most cases, this is far from the truth.
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