Salford residents say they feel “helpless” as an abandoned church has been treated as a dumping ground for the past three years.
Bursting bin bags, broken furniture, and abandoned construction waste cover the field at St Boniface Church, leaving residents ‘batting away flies’ and ‘not wanting to look out of their front windows’.
Locals say they feel “lost” and say that they think those in charge have just “given up on it”, leaving them powerless to address the issue.
After initially appealing to Salford Council to clean up the site, residents claim they were told nothing could be done by anyone other than the owners. Quays News since discovered that the land, which was previously owned by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Salford, was sold to Challenger Homes in 2022.
A spokesperson for Salford City Council said: “The St Boniface Roman Catholic Church site is the subject of an ‘untidy land’ complaint, which is currently being investigated by the planning enforcement team.
“The owners who are Challenger Homes (Lower Broughton) Limited, were sent a letter at the outset of the investigation, requesting that they remove any rubbish or waste from the site. Officers have also been in contact with the company’s solicitors.
“In the situation that the owners do not comply with the request to tidy the land voluntarily, then the Council has the option to serve them with a notice under the provisions of s215 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.”
Section 215 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 provides local planning authorities with the power to take steps requiring land to be cleaned up when its condition adversely affects the amenity of the area.
The council has the power to serve a notice under this section to the owner and occupier of the land . The notice requires the owner or occupier of the land to clean up the land or deal with the poor state of a building.
If the company does not comply with this notice, they may face prosecution in the Magistrates’ Court and face a fine.
With the fly tipping also comes claims of people using the abandoned church hall to use drugs.
Challenger Homes has been approached for comment.