Mountain of trash outside empty council building (From Wimbledon Guardian)

Mountain of trash outside empty council building in Mitcham

10:40am Thursday 4th October 2012 in News By Lauren May, Chief Reporter

Residents have complained after a “serious case” of fly-tipping outside an empty council building.

A mountain of debris has built up outside the former home of Merton Council’s social services team at Worsfold House, in Church Road, Mitcham.

The building has been left empty since the service was centralised and moved to the civic centre in Morden in July.

Tony Burton, a trustee of the Mitcham Cricket Green community and heritage, said: “It looks like more than one instance of tipping.

“It’s been empty for about five months now and I suspect that’s probably one of the reasons because the building isn’t being used regularly and it’s not overlooked, so it’s a good place for fly-tipping.

“It’s clearly a serious case and it needs to be nipped in the bud so it doesn’t become a problem.

“We have no reason to think that Merton won’t take action, but we want that action to be taken as quickly as possible because it is an eyesore and it is antisocial behaviour that will only continue unless action is taken urgently.”

A spokesman for Merton Council said: “We are arranging for the fly-tip to be removed as soon as possible.

“We will be doing this in conjunction with clearing up the whole area and we are also putting in place security measures to stop intruders getting on to the site.”