Local residents reported the fly-tipping to Eastleigh but were amazed to learn that according to the official maps this verge did not belong to the Council, nor was it designated highway land. The Council don't clear fly-tipping from private land even if they are happy to cut the grass there.
Asked by the neighbourhood watch co-ordinator if the Town Council could help, I spoke first to the Streetscene department at Eastleigh and had a long discussion about cuts, funding, redundancies, boundaries, and precedents. Eventually it transpired that Streetscene management would agree to clear this fly-tipping if they could cross charge the work to the HEWEB(*) Local Area Committee. The Local Area Coordinator agreed that maintaining the tidiness of the local environment is more important than squabbling over who owns the land and within a few days the rubbish was cleared.
So it's well done to the responsive HEWEB LAC, but a shame that we probably spent more time arguing over whether the work should be done than it took to drive a vehicle onto the verge and shovel the rubbish away.
(*) Hedge End, West End and Botley
That's a good point. It's not always clear whether to call the town, borough, or county council (or any number of private sector service providers if the coalition has its way). In this case it was even worse because we had to go to different departments in the same council to get the work done. People just want to be able to phone up once and get the problem sorted not go from department to department.
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