Angry villagers in Cullingworth are calling on a local tip operator to clean up its act.

Residents say rubbish from the tip at Manywells landfill site has been blowing from the tip and onto neighbouring fields.

They claim tip operator Wastepoint Ltd is not covering the tip with inert material at night, allowing rubbish on the site to blow away.

A perimeter fence at the tip has also been blown down by the recent high winds, leaving litter from the site to blow into neighbouring fields next to Hewenden viaduct.

Diane Marshall, a resident in Cullingworth Road, said: "We contacted Wastepoint about this problem three weeks ago but nothing seems to have been done about it.

"The tip hardly gets covered at night, which was one of the planning agreements, so we have got a mountain of rubbish visible throughout the village.

"The wind has blown away litter from the site and it is strewn in fields all along the valley."

She added: "We were promised this would be Bradford's flagship landfill and that we wouldn't experience problems, but we still have problems with litter, flies and gut-wrenching smells.

"I would urge Shipley planning officers to come and look at Manywells, which they approved, and see what it has done to this village before making a decision about the tip at Denholme.

"The residents of Denholme have seen the devastating effects on our lives here in Cullingworth and have every right to fear the proposed tip at Buck Park."

A spokesman for Wastepoint said: "We do have litter fencing around the site but the weather has been excessively windy and we have had problems.

"We have had teams of litter pickers out collecting any rubbish from around the site. The covering has continued and goes on all the time."

A spokesman for the Leeds-based Environment Agency said: "The site operator does seem to be aware of the problem and is trying to do as much as it can in covering it, but there is a general shortage of covering material.

"The site was closed between March 8 and 10 because of the wind and litter pickers are on the site regularly.

"We have the standard number of visits to the site and if there are other problems we will get in there and see what we can do."

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