Residents in the North Preston, N.S. area are raising concerns about a road littered with old furniture, tires, bags of garbage and even dead animals.
“It’s totally littered with garbage,” says area resident Susan Burrell, who travels the road every day to bring her daughter to school.
“I’ve called and asked questions and not getting any answers.”
Despite signs indicating surveillance and neighbourhood watch, no one seems to be monitoring the illegal dump site.
“My frustration is, why are they dumping anyway?” asks local councillor David Hendsbee. “A lot of this stuff can be taken to the local landfill and be put out with regular garbage.”
Part of the issue is determining who is responsible for maintaining the area; the province is responsible for the beginning and end of the road, while the Halifax Regional Municipality is responsible for the middle.
“If they’re all responsible for it, then they should have to create a team and come out and take care of it,” says Burrell.
The province and municipality say they’re concerned about the road and say they will respond when they receive a complaint, but they don’t have the resources to maintain the area.
“What we have to realize is it’s the same maintenance staff and maintenance funds from all the other maintenance work, whether it’s pothole repairs or drainage work,” says Guy Deveau, the area manager for the Nova Scotia Department of Transportation.
Hendsbee also says criminal charges could be laid, if they can determine who is littering the road.
“We have the police usually go through and if they can find a receipt or any kind of mailing label and trace back the origins, maybe we go back and prosecute wherever possible,” he says.
As for Burrell, she just wants it taken care of.
“It needs to be cleaned up. It’s polluting our earth even more,” she says. “It’s a part of us. We need it looking good.”
With files from CTV Atlantic's Kayla Hounsell
