I know this isn't DIY, but don't know where else I might find the right knowledge.
House next door to me has been bought by builders who are doing major renovations, extensions, and garden reshaping with a view to selling. That has all produced a LOT of excavated earth. They have dumped that all over a piece of land at the back. To explain, behind the rear gardens of the two houses there is a large plot of land. I have half, and the other half belongs to next door. It's all surrounded by trees and hedges, with a see through fence down the middle. My half is cultivated, the other half was pretty much a natural wilderness. That half is now a rubbish tip of huge mounds of earth, brick, building debris. One big eyesore to me, but invisible from the road. Renders it totally useless to whoever buys the house
nowledge. House next door to me has been bought by builders who are doing m ajor renovations, extensions, and garden reshaping with a view to selling. That has all produced a LOT of excavated earth. They have dumped that all o ver a piece of land at the back. To explain, behind the rear gardens of the two houses there is a large plot of land. I have half, and the other half belongs to next door. It's all surrounded by trees and hedges, with a see t hrough fence down the middle. My half is cultivated, the other half was pre tty much a natural wilderness. That half is now a rubbish tip of huge mound s of earth, brick, building debris. One big eyesore to me, but invisible fr om the road. Renders it totally useless to whoever buys the house Is that l egal, or would it amount to tipping? --
I would have thought that its just another part of the garden so they can d o what they want with it (within reason).
It would be in their interest to clear it before attempting to sell the hou se as I wouldnt want to buy a house with half of the garden filled with rub ble.
Section 33 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 prohibits dumping controlled waste (or extractive waste) on any land unless there is a waste management licence to do so.
That begs the question of what is controlled waste; I'm not sure, you'll find the answer in here if you look for long enough. Rubble almost certainly is, I don't know about excavated spoil.
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Report to council and take pictures. The builders will probably claim it's landscaping.
If they leave it when they go, it would be tipping, unless they have obtained a licence to tip the waste there. However, it sounds to me as if they are temporarily collecting everything in one spot until they shift it, all on one waste transfer note, at the end of the job. It is not going to do much for the prospects of selling the house to have a heap of builder's rubbish at the back of the house.
I buried all my rubble beneath what is now an orchard. Probably several hundred tons of it, and used more to make a haha ..and some went to make a dirt road for a local landowner.
You can make a most interesting series of raised areas in a garden with rubble, as long as you scrape off the topsoil before whacking the rubble down and putting the topsoil back.
controlled waste (or extractive waste) on any land unless there is a waste management licence to do so.
find the answer in here if you look for long enough. Rubble almost certainly is, I don't know about excavated spoil.
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landscaping.
It is not controlled waste if it has not been abandoned. As the builders are still working on the site they can, quite justifiably, say they have not abandoned anything there.
Even if they do abandon it, I wonder if there is anything that anyone can do about dumping rubble, etc. "within the bounds of the property" as it's not really any different to using hardcore to build-up a lower section of garden?
Of course that leaves the door open for the waste to stay there right up till the builders leave ... vaguely reminds me of my LAs SOP for a missed rubbish collection ...
"In response to your enquiry, builders have a general duty to dispose properly of waste created in the course of their business, and a deposit of 'waste' onto land without the permission of the landowner and without an environmental permit in place would normally be an offence. However, the material that you have described will not necessarily amount to an illegal deposit of waste in the circumstances
- it would normally depend on whether the deposit was intended for further use (e.g. for landscaping), and what arrangements the owner of the property had made, for instance if they had a specific agreement that the material would not be taken away by the builders. If the material has not been 'discarded', but 'kept' then it will not be waste. In this case, you describe that the builder is the owner of the property. In my opinion it is less likely that it would be possible to take action under 'waste legislation'.
The Council does have other powers to deal with untidy gardens or land in certain circumstances:
If the material in an untidy garden is putrescible (comprised of material that can rot such as discarded foodstuffs, faeces, nappies, dead animals) and therefore likely to attract rats or mice, and/or actually providing them with harbourage, then action can be taken under the Prevention of Damage by Pests Act 1949.
If the material is causing a statutory nuisance (in this case, the deposited material has to be physically affecting your property in some way, as case law means that inert materials which are just unsightly cannot cause a statutory nuisance) then action can be taken under the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
The Council's planning team also has powers to help maintain the standard of the local environment. Land or buildings in an unsightly condition that may be "detrimental to the amenity of the neighbourhood" can be dealt with under powers available under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.
I think it is worth stating that if the property has recently been renovated, it will normally be unlikely that the owner would wish to leave an unsightly pile of material within the property boundaries, as this would either affect their own use and enjoyment of the property, or reduce the sale/rental value. If you wish to discuss the matter further, please do contact me, and likewise if you believe that any of the action described above might be justified at this stage. If you wish to speak to the planning team with reference to point 3 above, then please call their switchboard"
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