Perry’s pile: the fly-tipped mattresses, around 30 of them, were dumped off Stoney Lane last week. Despite pleas for help from residents, Croydon Council refuses to act
Croydon’s dismal reputation for clearing up fly-tips around the borough leaves residents defenceless against criminal gangs dumping on the streets in an industrial scale
Having presided over council contractors dumping hundreds of books on the street in Broad Green last week, now failed Mayor Jason Perry’s council is refusing to act over another massive pile: around 30 mattresses, all fly-tipped in a residents’ car park in Upper Norwood.
The mass fly-tipping incident occurred last week off Stoney Lane.
This is in the heart of the Upper Norwood Triangle Conservation area, which adjoins similar conservation areas in Bromley and in Lambeth and, according to Croydon, “contains a wide variety of historic buildings”.
And now, it is home to a veritable Perry’s pile of ancient bedding, too.
The dumping is in an area which is not well covered by CCTV. So no one can be certain how the mattresses came to be dumped in this off-street site. Speculation suggests it is a job-lot, with the old mattresses possibly coming from someone running an HMO – home of multiple occupancy – or perhaps even from a nearby hotel.
What is certain is that Croydon Council refuses to take any action.
After more than a week of submitting reports and requests for the council to remove the dirty old bedding, yesterday residents received this response from an official in Fisher’s Folly: “Following several discussions with our Waste Services team over the past few days, unfortunately it has been confirmed that, due to the specific location where the mattresses have been dumped, they are unable to proceed with clearance.
“As the site is not council-managed land, the responsibility for removal falls to the landowner or the property management company.
“I completely understand this isn’t the outcome you were hoping for, and I genuinely share your frustration. It’s never ideal when the responsibility falls into a bit of a grey area, especially with such a large and unsightly fly-tip.
“As this matter falls outside of the council’s remit, we are unfortunately unable to provide further assistance.”
When asked why the residents affected could not pay for the removal under the council’s bulky waste removal service, the one-line response from the council said: “Unfortunately, for this particular waste removal, we are unable to provide our bulky waste services.”
Piling it on: Perry was boasting about a minor fly-tip, the day after his own contractors had trashed thousands of library books
So while Perry has been boasting about the clearing of isolated, minor fly-tips – “This is what taking pride in Croydon looks like” he tweeted, barely a day after his own contractors had dumped thousands of books outside the Broad Green Library which the Tory Mayor had closed – residents elsewhere have been fobbed off after being victims of a serious criminal act.
One outraged resident told Inside Croydon: “We have clearly been targeted by criminals, so I am flabbergasted that Croydon Council won’t even allow us to pay for the removal of these mattresses.
“Commercial waste companies will charge upwards of £25 per mattress for removal – so around £750 for the lot. For us to have to share this between three residents who each already pay Croydon more than £180 per month in Council Tax is a disgrace.
“The council hasn’t even offered to investigate the crime.”
According to the council’s own data, the number of fly-tipping incidents in Croydon has soared by nearly 60% over the past couple of years.
There were 34,051 fly-tips reported to the council between November 2022 and November 2023. In the following year (to November 2024) there were 53,316, an increase of 57%.
These figures coincide with hardly any successful prosecutions for fly-tipping brought by Croydon Council since piss-poor Perry became Mayor.
Slumberland: dozy Croydon Council has not even tried to investigate who was behind this illegal dump
Between 2022 and the end of 2024, there were just four successful prosecutions brought by the council for criminal fly-tipping in the borough.
Croydon Council’s own figures show that over five years – 2020 to 2024 – there were just 14 prosecutions for littering in Croydon. The figures also show zero prosecutions for graffiti and fly-posting.
Fly-tipping is the illegal dumping of waste, including household, industrial, and commercial waste, a criminal offence under the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
The maximum penalty is a fine of up to £50,000, or up to five years in prison, or both.
Not that that applies in Croydon under failed Mayor Jason Perry.
Read more: #Binmageddon: Now Croydon named worst in UK for fly-tipping
Read more: Croydon’s fly-tip prosecution record is 2nd worst in all England
Read more: Residents’ despair over vile fly-tips, including a pig’s head
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This is a little unfair on Croydon Council. The mattresses were dumped on private land so that the council is under no obligation to remove them and if they were to do so, you would no doubt receive complaints that the council was wasting council tax payers’ monies. As you state, a criminal offence has been committed under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 but the residents affected should report the matter to the police. Any investigations and prosecutions would be brought by them – not Croydon Council, whose remit is limited to items dumped on public land. The service offered by Croydon Council for the collection of mattresses only applies to mattresses belonging to a Croydon Council tax payer. I am sure that it is subsidised. This appears to be commercial waste and the fact that it has been dumped on private land does not change that. Whilst I am very sympathetic to the residents, it is as stated before unfair to level criticism at Croydon Council.
It might be unfair, except the affected residents have reported it to the police, and they told them to contact… Croydon Council.
The residents should drag these mattresses onto the nearest public highway, pile them into an on-street car-parking space, and then report the matter to the relevant local authority
If the council did remove them, would the owner of this private land contact the Council complaining about their removal and say please return these mattresses immediately ? Of course not so common sense must prevail. Just think of all the resources so far used in this case without a successful conclusion to date.
If there’s no cctv in the area as you report, the residents just have to pile them up in the road and anonymously report it. Sorted!
It’s unfair to blame the council as to use public money on removing rubbish from private land would cause an outrage of misspent public funds. A solution is for CCTV be installed to prevent/dissuade further dumping at the land owners cost. Once this has been done negotiate a better price with private and public registered contractors to remove and dispose of these.
So it’s unfair to blame a local authority led by a Mayor who publicly claims that he will act robustly and quickly against fly-tippers, including those who dump on private land, yet who when asked to act on this egregious example of criminal activity turns round and refuses to do anything?
Yeah, right.
And do the police get it right all the time?
What’s that got to do with the price of fish?
On this occasion, yes they have.
I think there is more outrage that the council isn’t spending public funds than there is in them spending public funds
How much money would it really cost for Veolia to send one of their vans round to Stoney Lane, pick up the mattresses and take them to the Beddington incinerator? They’re already doing the rounds every day, emptying street bins and removing flytips on public land.
Piss-poor Jason “listening” Perry wastes our money on vanity projects like his publicity newspaper, but won’t shell out for what people really want
There might not be CCTV at the site but quite possibly a truck loaded with mattresses might have been caught, on camera, in the surrounding streets. The attitude of Croydon Council sounds atrocious. Get the not fit for purpose people and and decent, organised people in.
30 mattresses!? Has a hotel closed? Or a branch of Beds4U? Surely it is beyond the wit of Perry to home in on the culprit(s)? Perhaps IC could bounce them into action? Put a pocket spring in your step