'We live and work next to a huge illegal waste dump'

"It's like it happened overnight or something. It's just like one day, it just sort of spawned."

Bilal, a mechanic, is talking about the several thousand tonnes of mixed household and commercial waste that has been dumped at an illegal site off Midland Road in Bradford, close to his workplace.

The unauthorised dump was even visited by prime minister Andy Burnham, who chose the location to announce plans to toughen up regulations around fly-tipping and waste crime.

Bilal is well-placed to observe the development of the site from Trax Tyres, on the opposite side of the road. The narrow strip of land is hardly remote - it is close to the railway line and Bradford City's Valley Parade football stadium - yet the dumping of rubbish has been brazenly carried out.

"It just absolutely reeks. Like rotten fish and nasty stuff. You see big trucks here all the time, so you don't really know what they're doing.

"But I've never seen someone go in there and chuck stuff out with my own eyes," he says.

Waste criminals usually operate by taking a fee from customers for disposing of their household or business waste. Instead of taking it to an authorised recycling centre, they either fly-tip the items in random locations, or take them to an area of land that has been adopted for illegal dumping, often without the owner's consent or knowledge. Many of these sites are run in a way that appears legitimate to the casual observer.

Local councillor Mohammed Salas believes they operated under cover of darkness at Midland Road.

"They had high-vis jackets, 7.5-tonne lorries were going in and out of the land, but they would only do it at one, two o'clock in the morning, so nobody would know any different," he says.

"It was only because of the smell that the residents contacted us."

As you walk along Midland Road the odour is strong, especially on a hot summer's day, and Bradford has had its share of heatwaves this summer.

The enormous pile of rubbish was reported to the Environment Agency (EA) on 1 July.

The site is privately owned and since then, officers from the EA, Bradford Council, West Yorkshire Police and West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service have been at the scene gathering evidence.

Ian Walker, executive member for neighbourhoods and communities at Bradford Council, calls it "organised criminality operating on a commercial scale".

The dump is even close to people's homes. Vaqar, 51, lives in an end-of-terrace property opposite the site.

"What they've done down there, that's wrong. But what can you do? I've got my elderly mum, parents, so we can't leave," he says.

"I've got cameras in my house, but when I complain this person took rubbish, they [the council] say they need proof. I've got proof but they're not doing anything."

On 8 July, Environment Agency officers seized a truck connected to the site between Todmorden and Bacup - but so far no other action has been taken.

A short distance down the road is a legitimate waste contractor's premises.

Underwood's Recycling deals with materials such as sand, stone and demolition rubble, which are processed into new products and resold.

Operator Joseph Underwood says it is frustrating for authorised businesses to see criminals get away with dumping – and setting up their illicit operations so "efficiently".

"We try to follow the rules as much as we possibly can, and it's quite annoying to see that people are actually getting away with it, and we're following these strict guidelines and rules by the book," he says.

"It is in a bit of a hotspot place for nobody to actually know what's been going on."

Councillor Muhammad Haseeb Khan says "it was a professional job done in a professional manner", which is why the criminals were not stopped or action taken sooner.

"There are two community centres on Midland Road and there's Valley Parade and it's a residential area, so it's not a site that's in the middle of nowhere.

"It's affected the community centres and the residents throughout the summer holidays," he adds.

But Underwood says he can understand how it's happened – and may continue to happen if things don't improve.

"It's just household waste, which I feel like people are struggling at the minute to get rid of.

"In this area there are a lot of tips that have closed, so I'm guessing that people are getting desperate and that's why they turn to these illegal waste services," he says.

"There are not many options for normal people and the tips are getting more strict."

Ironically, between the illegal dump and Underwood's Recycling is Midland Road Household Waste and Recycling Centre – a council-run tip.

The queues are often long, says Underwood.

"Sometimes on a Saturday the roads are genuinely blocked each way because of the queues."

Across Bradford several council tips closed in 2024 - Ford Hill in Queensbury, Golden Butts in Ilkley and Sugden End in Cross Roads. At the time the Labour-run council said this would save about £1m a year.

These recycling centres are also subject to rules and regulations. Residents using them must have a permit, and commercial waste is not accepted. Only two tips, Bowling Back Lane and Keighley, allow larger vehicles such as campervans.

Fridges and freezers are not currently accepted due to nationwide shortage of specialist processing facilities.

The council runs separate disposal facilities for chargeable items and commercial waste, which must be weighed and paid for.

During Andy Burnham's visit to the site last week, he said fines for fly-tipping would increase from £300 to £5,000 and offenders could be given up to nine points on their driving licence.

He also announced a new waste crime crackdown group, chaired by environment secretary Angela Eagle, which would bring regulators and law enforcement together in a bid to dismantle criminal operations.

Khan, an independent councillor, says he hopes the clean-up of the Midland Road site is done as soon as possible - but others fear a publicly-funded clearance will simply tell criminals that they do not have to cover the costs of their activities.

"It's in plain sight and they still managed to get away with it," says Underwood.

"I think that's more concerning than the criminal gang side of it."

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