Wagga resident concerned nature strip near Edward Street treated like rubbish tip

A Wagga resident who lives on Edward Street says the nature strip near his house is being treated like a rubbish tip and that the local council has been slow to do anything about it.

Paul, who did not want to disclose his surname, says it’s an issue that has been going on for months and that his pleas for action have fallen on deaf ears.

“We have people dumping crap on this nature strip on the corner of Edward [Street] and Brookong [Avenue] all the time,” he said.

“We used to have these old-school concrete rubbish bins with a metal insert in there; it was constantly full and overflowing.

“There was rubbish sitting there from November that wasn’t removed until February. We had people dumping Christmas trees and the like there.”

Paul said there was now no bin, just a big concrete slab, which people continued to dump rubbish on.

“There’ll also be people come from Maccas nearby and just throw their wrappers on it,” he said.

“I once saw a lady driving in a Ford Everest dump a bed there. I thought, ‘You have an $80,000 car and you’re dumping rubbish?’”

Paul said his family reported the latest rubbish dump there to Wagga Council on Monday (3 March).

“My mum reported it to council and we just got the runaround. They said they first needed to investigate it and might pick it up tomorrow. I don’t see why there’s need to investigate,” he said.

Region asked Wagga Council if it was able to clear the Brookong Avenue rubbish that was reported on Monday (3 March) and if so, by when.

We also asked if council had any long-term plans to address the dumping of rubbish in this area and if so, what its plans were.

The council refused to answer either question, instead providing the following statement:

“Council encourages residents to report illegally dumped rubbish via the EPA website, RID Online.

“The EPA works with council on the clean-up of illegally dumped rubbish. Council staff will attend to a report as soon as staff are available.”

Paul said: “Someone from council was driving past today randomly, saw the rubbish, came back. He found an address and said that it would be cleaned by the end of today but the rubbish is still there [as of Monday night at 8 pm].”

He said Wagga Council told him it would take two weeks for the rubbish to be removed, but that it was eventually taken away at 1:30 pm on Tuesday (4 March).

He believes the long-term issue needs to be addressed though, with children in the area at risk of hurting themselves.

“My nephews and nieces come here regularly; they’re aged between three and 10. Kids aged under five don’t listen and will play anywhere,” he said.

NSW residents who are caught dumping rubbish illegally can face fines of up to $15,000.