We’re trapped inside our homes by 80ft mountain of rotting rubbish – it’s bigger than TWO double-decker buses combined
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LOCALS have described being trapped inside their homes by a giant 80ft mountain of rotting rubbish. The mound of industrial waste, which is longer than two double-decker buses combined, was dumped by fly-tippers in the early hours of Sunday morning (January 20).
![[A large pile of fly-tipped rubbish on a roadside.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/huge-mound-fly-tipped-rubbish-965462837.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
Local businesses have also been left stranded due to the blockage on Watery Lane in Lichfield, Staffordshire. According to local Elaine Hutchings, who owns a livery yard, the festering pile can be smelled from a distance. She explained that the rural road - which was already inaccessible on one end due to ongoing works - was now completely unusable.
![[A worker surveys a large pile of fly-tipped rubbish.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/huge-mound-fly-tipped-rubbish-965462830.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
She said: "It's industrial rubbish, building waste, you can smell it. "Watery Lane is used as a cut-through. The one end was already shut due to scheduled works and this being dumped this morning means residents and businesses will be left isolated.". She added that nine or ten households had been cut off - with a small number, including Elaine's, able to escape their properties via an alternative route set up by housing developer Redrow.
![[Aerial view of a construction vehicle removing a large pile of illegally dumped waste from a road.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/contractors-work-remove-ten-ft-965493844_a4048a.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
However, she feared other neighbours wouldn't be so lucky, as "there are a lot [of developers] who won't do that.". She did, however, believe that staff from Lichfield District Council were on-site trying to move the build-up, adding: "I had a message from a farmer and they sent me a photograph.
![[A large pile of fly-tipped building waste blocking a road.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/ten-ft-high-pile-waste-965494455.jpg?strip=all&w=720)
"I drove up and called the council, councillors and the police were already there. "They are trying to sort the logistics of trying to get it moved.". In a statement posted on its website this morning (January 21), a spokesperson for the council reassured locals that it had already contacted the Environment Agency.
![[Excavator removing a large pile of illegally dumped waste from a road.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/contractors-work-remove-ten-ft-965494102.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
