A MINEHEAD woman has hit out at fly-tippers who dumped a load of builder's rubble - including an old toilet and a fridge - in front of her garage.

Felicity Perkins has been left to pick up the bill for cleaning up and disposing of the junk and has blamed the incident on new opening hours and the introduction of charges at West Somerset's recycling centres.

Only last month, the Somerset Waste Partnership, which oversees waste collection and recycling on behalf of the county's district and county councils, admitted there had been a "significant" increase in fly-tipping following the introduction of charges.

While people have to pay to use Dulverton's recycling centre irrespective of the type or volume of items they are dumping, people using other centres, including those in Williton and Minehead, have to pay to deposit certain types of waste.

This includes loads of soil and rubble, as well as gas bottles and tyres.

Mrs Perkins, whose garage is in Cat Lane, said fly-tipping seemed to be a hot topic, yet no-one was willing to help her as the rubbish had been dumped on private property.

"There's plasterboard, tiles, lino, cupboard doors, a toilet and a cistern, but when I tried to do something about it I was told I had to deal with it because it's on my property.

"That means I'll have to sort out taking it to the recycling centre and meeting any charges myself.

"To be honest, it just makes me feel like I want to dump it on council property and make them deal with it instead."

As the law stands, the responsibility for clearing fly-tipped waste lies solely with the land owner, although the county council is responsible for anything dumped on public highways.

A spokesman for West Somerset Council appealed for anyone with information on fly-tippers to report them to the council or the Environment Agency.

She said: "Like other councils, we are not responsible for clearing fly tipping on private land.

"We condemn any fly tipping because the costs of disposal fall to all taxpayers if the fly tip is on public land, or to innocent landowners if it is on private property.

"If anyone witnesses fly-tipping, we urge them to contact us or the Environment Agency with details so that we can try to track down the culprits."

Mrs Perkins said it was not the first time she had had to deal with rubbish being dumped outside her garage, but previously she had been able to take it to Minehead's recycling centre without incurring any charges.

"They charge for all sorts of things now, so I'm not surprised people are just dumping this type of stuff, especially as the centres are closed half the time," she said.

Currently, all recycling centres in the county close two days a week, with opening hours cut from 56 in winter and 70 in summer to 40 hours year-round, with a staggered rota so not all locations are closed on the same day.

In West Somerset, Minehead, Williton and Dulverton are open from 8am to 7pm on Mondays, Minehead is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, while Dulverton and Williton are open from 8am to 4pm on both days and then closed on Thursdays and Fridays when Minehead is open, again from 8am to 4pm.

All three sites open from 8am to 4pm on Saturdays and from 8am to 1pm on Sundays.

The new hours and charges were deemed necessary to save money after Somerset County Council withdrew £1.9 million in funding from the centres.

According to a report compiled by the waste partnership, the charges, coupled with a reduction in opening hours had led to a "clear increase" and an "unprecedented" number of fly-tipping incidents.

The report revealed there had been almost three times the number of fly-tipping incidents in West Somerset in April when the charges were introduced, compared to the previous month.

However, members of the partnership's Somerset Waste Board felt it was still too early to draw any firm conclusions from the figures.

At the time, Steve Read, Somerset Waste Partnership managing director, said: "While recycling centre changes prompted temporary shifts in residents' behaviour, we know from past experience that these are likely to settle down over future months, which is why we will continue to monitor what is happening and review progress before the end of year."

The county council has agreed to cover the district authorities' additional clean-up costs - estimated to be between £4,000 and £6,000 a month, while the board will review its operations and options when it meets again in September.

Photo: Steve Guscott