Clean up for Slough Weir fly-tipping hotspot

Working in partnership with Slough Borough Council and Thames Valley Police, the Environment Agency contracted Jacobs Engineering UK Ltd to oversee the operation at the hotspot area adjacent to Slough Road Car Park, which runs alongside the Jubilee River.

The area has been used as a dumping ground for all kinds of rubbish including used condoms, tissues, beer cans and bottles, tables, tyres, car parts/bodywork, soiled clothes, plastic bottles, fast food waste, rubble, fencing panels and lots of plastic, as well as being a regular place for drug users to discard their hypodermic needles.

Phil Stevens, project lead from the Environment Agency, said: “The rubbish dumping and drug activities at Slough Road car park have become a blot on the landscape of the Jubilee River. This new initiative with Slough Borough Council will lessen if not eradicate the problem of rubbish.

“The aim of this clean-up is to enhance the environmental quality of the river and improve the visual amenity for the local community.”

Slough Road car park is a public car park that was constructed by the Environment Agency as part of the Maidenhead Windsor & Eton Flood Alleviation Scheme. The Environment Agency maintain the whole of the Jubilee River site in accord with a 25-year landscape management plan.

Joe Byrne, community warden for Slough Borough Council, said: “This was a very successful partnership in cleaning up an area which should be enjoyed by everyone using it. We’re committed to ensuring that Slough is a nice place to live, work and play, so clean up’s like this really help keep the borough a good place to be.”

The main purpose of the area, which is used by cyclists and dog walkers, is visual. It screens the Jubilee River from the adjacent dual carriageway (A332 Slough Road) and integrates the car park within the Jubilee river site by providing a vegetated backdrop. The thicket planting will in time be attractive to nesting birds.