CONSTRUCTION workers and visitors to Deerbolt prison are being blamed for mounds of litter.
Takeaway packets, old work boots, safety glove packaging and polystyrene are among the items that have been blown down an embankment near Deepdale Woods, in Startforth.
Neighbours say the problem has got worse since construction began on a new housing estate near the prison and much of the rubbish comes from a car park built for prison visitors and construction workers.
A supervisor for the Kier Homes building site has vowed to clean the area up in the wake of the complaints.
However, owners of a nearby composting site fear they will be blamed for the problem.
Martin Bacon, of Teesdale Conservation Volunteers (Rotters), said: “It has slowly been getting worse and worse and now it looks like a landfill site.
“My thought is we are a waste site and we are going to get the blame for this, but we have always been immaculate.”
Rotters has been on their site since 1997.
Artist Ken Lee, who lives opposite the littered embankment, said rubbish is often blown into his property. He added: “It is disgusting. My wife Anne tidies it up. She likes a clean garden.”
Building site supervisor Mohammed Wahab admitted the litter was a problem but added that the vast majority of the people using the car park are visitors to the prison. He said about 30 people work on the construction site compared with about 300 people who visit the prison, but he would send out a group to litter picker.
He said: “It is not an issue – I will get it sorted.”
Startforth Parish Council chairman Pat Estall said members had not received complaints about the problem but he would monitor the site.
