FLY-TIPPING: Morriston man must pay more than £1,400 after waste strewn along two miles of Dulais Valley road

A Morriston man must pay more than £1,400 after fly-tipped waste was found strewn along two miles of a Dulais Valley road.

The waste was discovered scattered along the country road between Crynant and Cilfrew, and was first reported on 6 November last year.

It was a mixed load: vehicle parts, components coated in oil, commercial waste, household items and fluorescent lighting tubes.

The oily vehicle parts made it a nastier find than a typical dumped load — the sort of waste that can contaminate land and watercourses rather than just blight the roadside.

In an unusual turn, the man responsible came forward himself. After initial enquiries began, 38-year-old Roger Townsend contacted investigators saying he wanted to discuss waste he had deposited in Crynant.

Townsend admitted illegally dumping the waste, and also revealed he had no waste carrier licence — the registration legally required to transport waste.

A check of Natural Resources Wales records confirmed no waste exemptions applied along the Crynant–Cilfrew road.

Townsend, of Lon Gwendraeth in Morriston, pleaded guilty at Swansea Magistrates’ Court on 9 July to illegally depositing waste, an offence under the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

He was ordered to pay £946.75 in costs, £202.21 in compensation, a £200 fine and an £80 victim surcharge — £1,428.96 in all.

Neath Port Talbot Council’s cabinet member for streetscene, Cllr Scott Jones, said the type of waste seen in the case, including vehicle parts and oil-contaminated materials, was “very damaging to the environment and will not be tolerated”.

He thanked the council’s enforcement team for their investigative work, and said the council would continue to pursue offenders — urging residents to dispose of waste responsibly and to check that anyone removing waste on their behalf is properly licensed to do so.

The case is the latest in a steady run of fly-tipping prosecutions across Neath Port Talbot, where the council has been crushing vehicles linked to illegal dumping as part of an intensifying crackdown.

Recent cases include a man ordered to pay more than £5,000 after being caught by a hidden camera in Neath, and a waste boss stripped of his carrier licence following a fly-tipping conviction.

Householders are legally responsible for their own waste even when someone else takes it away — anyone paying for waste removal can check a carrier is licensed on the Natural Resources Wales public register.