A COUNCILLOR was enraged when he discovered thousands of tyres had been dumped in a part of the Bradford district.

Councillor Ralph Berry (Lab, Wibsey) could not believe what he was seeing as he came across tonnes of tyres in Shipley last Saturday.

This week, when the Telegraph & Argus visited Ashley Lane, off Wharf Street, huge heaps of tyres could be seen piled around the area, along with a nearby trailer.

It is believed these have been there since July - something that has angered Shipley ward councillors. Bradford Council says it is working with its partner to resolve the issue, which is now a legal matter.

“It is appalling,” said Cllr Berry.

“The road that would have led to the old canal warehouse is blocked with them as well.

“This is industrial-scale dumping. This is absolutely outrageous.

“This is tonnes and tonnes of tyres cabled up into a big cube.

“There must be some way to find out where this came from.

“Unfortunately, I feel like this will come down to the Council, at a great cost, to remove them but how are they going to do that?

“You are talking about several tonnes of compacted tyres. I have never seen anything like it.

“I walked past it and thought it was some sort of art installation.

“It is all relatively unused and neglected around there. There’s a trailer left there too.”

Shipley Ward Councillor Kevin Warnes feels let down by the speed of the investigation so far and is pushing for quicker action.

He said: “I agree entirely and share Cllr Berry’s dismay.

“The ward councillors have been pressing Council officers to sort this out since July, and are very unhappy at the extremely slow progress that has been made.

“I have informed the officers involved that I regard this as a service failure.”

When approached by the Telegraph & Argus, a Bradford Council spokesperson said: “We are aware of this issue and are working with our partners to resolve it.

“This is now a legal matter so it would be inappropriate to comment further.”

The anger comes just a year after a huge tyre fire burned for days in Bradford.

The Spring Mill Street blaze, involving hundreds of thousands of tyres, started on November 16, 2020.

At its height up to 100 firefighters were at the scene and it took a week before it was completely extinguished.