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A vast fly tip that could be the biggest of its kind in Britain has been spewing toxic fumes across a family farm attraction for seven years, the Daily Mail can reveal.
The popular Countryside Adventure Park at Over Farm in Gloucestershire boasts of having ‘all the fresh air in the world’ and offers tractor rides, mini golf and the chance to meet llamas, goats and donkeys.
But its owner admits that, on certain days, noxious smoke from burning plastic can be seen billowing over the site – leaving visitors spluttering as they try to enjoy a family day out.
Satellite images suggest the dump is more than two acres in size. That would make it at least ten times the size of the notorious fly tip in Kidlington, Oxfordshire, which was previously said to be ‘Britain’s biggest’.
The problem dates back to 2018, when up to 50 trucks a day from all over the UK started dumping their cargoes of plastic, building rubble and general waste on land at the back of Over Farm.
Since then, tens of thousands of tonnes of rubbish have been deposited at the illegal tip, which is situated between the adventure park and a body of water that forms part of the old Herefordshire and Gloucestershire Canal.
Locals say it is fly tipping on an industrial scale and their complaints to the police and Environment Agency – which is currently investigating the site – have been ignored.
Shocking photos show a vast area of rubbish spread across the site, with one smouldering pile already subsiding into the former canal, which closed in 1881.
The whole area is on the floodplain of the River Leadon, a tributary of the River Severn that is home to protected fish species including the critically endangered European eel.
The tip consists of layers of waste going down up to 20 feet in some places, and regularly self-combusts due to heat generated by the process of decomposition.
Land Registry records identify the owner of the land as a man called Sean Butcher.
Mr Butcher is shown as living in Witney in Oxfordshire – although he now appears to reside elsewhere.
One former neighbour told the Mail: ‘He ran several businesses, I think in building and house clearances.’
Highnam residents say the tip itself has been operated by businessman Marshall Gorman, 45, who runs a local driveway company.
Mr Gorman is listed as the owner of another site down the road in Rudford, where he has been issued with a council Planning Enforcement Action for ‘the importation, depositing and movement of materials’ which includes ‘construction waste’.
In a statement, Forest of Dean District Council said it had taken action the landowner – who also uses the surname Oldham – over a ‘serious breaches of environmental regulations’.
His planning agent told the BBC the claims were ‘unfounded’.
Villagers who spoke to the Mail about the dump at Over Farm asked not to be named, citing threatening phone calls they had received after complaining about the tip.
One said: ‘When the wind is blowing in a certain direction it becomes unbearable, our children have to breathe those fumes.
‘The fire brigade are regularly called to deal with the smouldering waste.’
Residents described seeing piles of rubbish being dumped at the site and then flattened by bulldozers.
Another villager said: ‘I’ve seen dump trucks arrive from Watford, the Midlands, Bristol and South Wales.
‘People call it fly-tipping but this is nothing like a tatty mattress and washing machine being dumped in a lay-by.
‘This is thousands of tons being systematically tipped onto prime English countryside. How is it being allowed to happen?’
When the Mail visited Over Farm earlier this month, pale grey smoke was drifting across the tip – with the noxious fumes catching in your throat.
A spokesman for Over Farm Park said: ‘It’s terrible. The biggest impact for us is on customers coming to the farm park so when a fire gets lit there’s black smoke billowing across here. It’s not pleasant.
‘Vehicles going up there also impact on the safety of the public coming here. It’s awful.’
The park spokesman said locals know who is responsible for the illegal tip but the council, police and Environment Agency have done nothing to stop the lorries and pollution.
Highnam Parish Council has lodged a formal complaint to the chief executive of the Environment Agency over its lack of action.
Council chairman Charlie Coats said: ‘We’ve been asking them to do something for seven years. We’ve complained on a weekly basis but nothing gets done.
‘All we ever get back from them is, ”yes we are aware of it” and ”it’s with our legal team”. It’s very frustrating.
‘The Agency says it will be taking appropriate action when the time is right. But they’ve had seven years.
‘We’ve written to the Chief Executive of the Environment Agency to say it is unacceptable.’
A spokesman for the Environment Agency said: ‘Illegal waste crime scars our communities, and we’re committed to tackling it in Gloucestershire working with police and councils.
‘Together, we’re pulling every lever available to us to disrupt those who profit from the harm illegal waste sites cause.
‘We are actively investigating the illegal deposits of waste at Over and we share the community’s disgust at these cases of environmental vandalism.’
Marshall Gorman was away visiting relatives in Scotland when the Mail called at his prefabricated bungalow alongside the A40 dual carriageway, north of Gloucester.
But his 90-year-old mother said: ‘I can guarantee he’s done nothing at the tip. People go up there fly-tipping.
‘He’s ended up bad with his nerves – people are tormenting him to death about this.’
Additional reporting: Tracey Kandohla.
