Residents’ fury at fly-tipping mess at once popular Benbow pub in Intake

Residents who live close to the now flattened Benbow pub off Armthorpe Road, in Intake, have hit out at the mess and are calling on the council to get tough with fly-tipping culprits.

The waste, which mainly consists of discarded fast food takeaway oil barrels, food and cartons, was dumped around a week ago and strong winds has blown a proportion of the mess into people’s gardens.

Graham Pearman’s home backs onto the former pub car park and has found fly-tipping mess in his garden. He fears rats have moved onto the car park due to the large amount of discarded food on site.

But the 52-year-old claims the land is not owned by the council hence why the mess has not been cleaned up by the local authority.

Mr Pearman said Doncaster Mayor Ros Jones is aware of the problem and plans to visit the site for herself.

“It’s disgusting, it’s absolutely horrendous to look at. There’s all sorts that’s been dumped and I’d be stunned if the rats haven’t descended on it,” he said.

“It’s starting to smell and I’m worried it’s only going to get worse when it starts to get warmer.

“All the things that have been dumped is from a takeaway or a number of them – we know this because there’s lots of barrels of cooking oil and discarded cartons and food you’d buy from there.

“The council should be really coming down hard on these people but I appreciate it’s hard to catch them.

“It’s been here about a week and nothing’s been cleared up because it’s private property.”

There had been plans to convert the watering hole, named after Royal Navy hero John Benbow, into an Indian restaurant in 2010 before its demolition after planning permission was granted but work never began.

The premises was then reduced to rubble three years later, with a view to a new commercial premises being built on the site.

Planning permission to turn the site into an Indian restaurant was granted for the second time in January 2014 and again in 2016, but building work failed to start on the site.

Coun Chris McGuinness, cabinet member for the environment said: “We are currently investigating fly tipping offences that have taken place on this land and have issued enforcement notices to the land owners to remove the accumulated waste.

“The notices that have been served also informed the owners that it is their responsibility to secure the site and prevent further vehicular access.

“It is not our responsibility to clear the waste from private land such as this, however we can take action against the fly tippers, where appropriate, on behalf of the land owners.”