Flytippers dump river of rubbish on mountain in Welsh beauty spot

A frustrated farmer has been losing sleep over a river of rubbish that was dumped down a mountainside and is visible for five miles.

Katie Davies grazes her sheep where the trash was left and said the mess keeps her ‘up at night’.

Drone videos show the garbage strewn across the beautiful South Wales countryside on Bwlch Mountain in Treorchy.

This mountain land has been owned by Ms Davies’ family for 90 years, and the clean-up could cost her thousands of pounds.

Ms Davies said: ‘I’m extremely frustrated and upset. It’s just devastating.

‘It’s horrendous. It’s really heartbreaking. I need a long-term solution, I can’t keep doing this.’

Fly-tippers often chuck their waste from the layby above the cliffs, and it’s such a problem that Rhondda Cynon Taf Council has had help with the clean-up in the past.

Volunteers previously had to drag the rubbish down the mountain before the council took it away to the tip. 

But this time, she fears it will be more difficult and may need specialists to drag the junk from the sheer cliff face.

Ms Davies is now appealing to the council to shut the layby above the cliffs to stop this from happening again.

Nathan Dixon, 37, who grew up in the village beneath the mountain, said he recently scattered his father’s ashes there. 

Now it is littered with ripped-up cardboard boxes, bits of dirty plastic and broken wooden planks.

‘That’s my father’s final resting place. He walked those mountains all of his life,’ he said. ‘It’s where he always wanted to be.’

Mr Dixon, who is a travel blogger and captured videos of the once beautiful dumping ground, said that the huge pile of rubbish could be seen ‘three to five miles away.’

Meanwhile, Rhondda Cynon Taf Council stated that it always took action to hold those responsible for fly-tipping to account.

A council spokesperson said it was ‘important to find the right balance between deterring what is blatant and reckless vandalism of this beautiful landscape, with the enjoyment of the thousands of conscientious visitors’.

Covert cameras and signs have been set up in the area by the council to deter or catch future fly-tippers, who they threatened with a £400 fine and criminal charges. 

The local authority added: ‘The Bwlch Mountain is home to breath-taking scenery that is world-renowned – unfortunately, there are some shameless people who decide to fly-tip and dump their waste, spoiling it for the majority.

‘As a council, we take fly-tipping incredibly seriously and always take action to hold those responsible to account.

‘Anyone found fly-tipping in the area would receive a fine of at least £400 and could face a criminal sentence.’

Government agency Natural Resources Wales said: ‘Fly-tipping is a serious crime that harms our environment, endangers wildlife and disrupts local communities. It’s also expensive to clean up.’

More than 70 per cent of fly-tipping incidents in Wales involve illegal, unlicensed waste collectors hired by people unknowingly to take away their household waste.

The agency spokesperson said: ‘If you’re paying someone to remove your waste, you must check that they are a registered waste carrier.’