CONTAMINATED manure has made life a misery for residents of a dale village.
Thousands of pieces of plastic, polystyrene and fabric were uncovered in a field adjacent to Ovington Lane, Ovington.
Residents became concerned when material started to blow into their properties and polluted a nearby beck in recent weeks.
They claimed clearing road verges of the debris had become a daily task. As a result the Environment Agency was called in to investigate.
Officials said the problem relates to an incident dating back five years when contaminated manure was delivered to the field from out of the area.
An Environment Agency spokesperson said: “It’s believed this relates to an historic incident we investigated in 2013 relating to manure, which was, unknown to the landowner, contaminated with plastics.
“At the time, the landowner took immediate remedial action. It appears some of this plastic waste has surfaced again. We have notified the landowner of the current issues.”
After the initial incident the Environment Agency issued advisory notices to those in the region who received manure from the same supplier.
Following this latest incident, the Environment Agency has reiterated advice to report waste or pollution incidents to their 24-hour incident hotline on 0800 807060.
![A COUNTY councillor is backing a campaign to get a pedestrian crossing in Staindrop. Frustrated parish councillors in the village summoned their county council representative Cllr George Richardson to their latest meeting to discuss several issues, including the call for a safe way to cross the A688. Earlier this year their request for a crossing was turned down by the county council’s highways officers. Parish council chairman Jonothan Raper described the reasons for the refusal as “spurious” and called on Cllr Richardson to support their campaign. He added: “One of the arguments they made was there is no clear line of desire when they studied the village – well this isn’t a clear line of desire because there isn’t a crossing, people cross whenever they can. “When the lollipop person was there, one of the things I noticed was people would walk all the way down to the lollipop person to cross the road to go to the shop or to go to the school.” He added a problem of parking at the primary school is exacerbated because people are too afraid to walk their children across the road. Cllr Richardson said he had supported previous attempts for a crossing point with the first being made about 15 years ago. He added: “We went fairly well down the road with that and they looked into it. The only recommended place was where the bus stop is and to get the visibility splays, people on the other side of the road would lose their parking. “That didn’t go down well so it just died a death.” Cllr Raper said he suspected the real reason for the officers’ refusal was the cost of installing a crossing. He added that much of the cost could be recovered from savings made on not having to employ a lollipop patrol. Cllr Raper said: “A lollipop person only provides a benefit of crossing for three hours of the day. You are getting 21 extra hours of crossing time [with a pedestrian crossing].” Cllr Richardson said he would raise the issue with the county council’s cabinet member for highways, Cllr John Shuttleworth.](https://teesdalemercury.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/georgeR-120x86.jpg)
