Posted by: @majordennisbloodnok

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I might be mistaken but I thought the Fire Brigade would be quite happy being told of a plume of smoke that doesn't look right

We spoke to them yesterday. Supervisor called us back and said unless the fire was out of control, they could even not be allowed on the land if the owner doesn't permit them entry.

@transparent, environmental protection emailed earlier today saying they'd called to discuss. Still waiting to hear back and curious what their take will be given what the drone footage shows.

The local politics around this are interesting, to put it diplomatically. Our ward councillor is close friends with the landowner and the neighbouring farmer... they all went to school together. We only found this out after a separate complaint years ago, when we discovered he'd gone straight back to the farmer and told him we'd complained. So he won't be getting a call from me on this! 😆 

Posted by: @editor

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The local politics around this are interesting, to put it diplomatically. Our ward councillor is close friends with the landowner and the neighbouring farmer... they all went to school together. We only found this out after a separate complaint years ago, when we discovered he'd gone straight back to the farmer and told him we'd complained. So he won't be getting a call from me on this! 😆 

Private Eye would love to know if your ward councillors mate really is running a dodgy waste operation 🤣  

I still think you ought to have evidence of the sort of waste which is being burned...
... ideally with an addressed envelope to tell you where it came from!

An Environmental Health Officer could go on site and obtain that.
But you don't have to be the one who initiates that.
The local water authority is likely to be interested in pursuing that course of action too.

There are circumstances when it's 'worthwhile' for an ordinary citizen to go onto the land and obtain such evidence in person.

Even if that encroachment is detected, and results in a solicitor's letter, it would be too great a risk for the landowner/tenant to pursue that in a court once you had indeed obtained relevant evidence.

I've taken such action three times in the past 5 years when a housing developer was ignoring their responsibilities.

1: They had raised ground-level without first installing drainage pipework to take rainwater away. The water found its own way downhill by going through an embankment of loose stone, then flooded houses on the other side.

The developer stated that wasn't from their site because there were no pools of water building up on their side of the embankment.

I was able to provide the owners of the flooded homes with photographs of the non-existent pools of water running over the top of a low bund.
You can see the camera position is just outside of Heras security fencing erected by the developer. How it got there wasn't discovered.

As I'd anticipated, the developer's first line of defence was to issue threats for trespass, rather than accept liability for the houses damaged by the water.

2: I found that the extent of the developer's purchase of the land stopped 1 metre short of an ancient hedgerow which appears on 16th Century maps.

The ecological survey supplied with the Planning Application indicated the presence of a badger sett in that hedgerow.
Here's a photo of the sett taken a few months after work started, showing the two entrances adjacent to the building site:

Quite how a camera got to that location was never known.

Perhaps it was the same fairies who secured the builders' mesh in place with rocks.

3: Will have to remain under wraps at the moment.

But the evidence obtained is an Environment Health matter, and the samples are secure.

Posted by: @abernyte

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In Scotland SEPA (Scottish Environmental Protection Agency) closely enforce on farm open burning of waste with only untreated wood, brash or some crop residues permitted. Large fines are dished out regularly for non compliance. There is a reporting form on line and a freephone hotline to contact them.  Unfortunately none of that helps you, as what you have is awful and needs stopped.

Same here in Finland. It's strictly forbidden to burn household trash, plastics, tires, treated/painted wood, construction waste, or chemicals etc. nationwide. Outside densely populated areas, farmers and property owners may burn dry, clean branches, sticks, or harmless agricultural byproducts like dry straw. 

The vast majority of Finnish waste is recycled or channeled into district heating via municipal waste-to-energy plants, which have the appropriate temperatures, filters and scrubbers to minimize environmental impact. Getting rid of waste is generally also not an issue here in the first place, so there is very little, if any need to burn stuff (or dump it somewhere illegally).