A WEST Somerset beauty spot is being targeted by commercial-scale fly-tippers - but some local people are reluctant to report incidents fearing recriminations.

This week, West Somerset Council contractors removed a large quantity of builders’ waste, including a toilet, shower tray, bricks, plasterboard and concrete, from the roadside near the picnic area at Nutcombe Bottom in remote woodland off the Dunster-Timberscombe road.

Several people, who asked not to be named, told the Free Press that in the past property had been damaged when fly-tipping suspects had been reported by others.

Situated on Crown Estate land in Exmoor National Park, Nutcombe Bottom’s waymarked trails and picnic areas are popular with visitors, ramblers and walkers. Other adjacent land is owned by the Forestry Commission.

Over the past year, forestry workers and volunteers have spent days clearing at least six loads of builders’ rubbish, including bags of rubble thrown into a stream.

An area had to be fenced off until rubbish, including coils of wire and an old freezer, was removed.

As reported in last week’s Free Press, fly-tipping on the nearby Dunster-Timberscombe road caused its closure while waste, apparently tipped from a lorry or large van, was cleared up. A similar incident was reported in Luxborough.

A voluntary forestry worker, who feared the consequences if his identity was revealed, said that the fly-tippers “weren’t just people who were doing a bit of DIY.

Another man said that there had been occasions when fly-tippers had been approached by local people and had suffered as a result. He claimed cars had been damaged and house windows smashed.

Crown Estates, Dunster, told the Free Press they were unable to comment on the incident, but Clare O’Connor, spokesman for Exmoor National Park, said it was deeply disappointing that fly-tipping was continuing to blight the area’s beauty spots and urged people to take waste to a recycling centre.

“There is one at Minehead, only four or five miles away – surely that isn’t too much to ask?” she said.

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