Imagine my horror at being met with this on my arrival at the top of Salisbury Road.
Obviously I snapped a photo and when I got home reported it to the council, via FixMyStreet.
Then, I got to thinking why this place is so attractive to fly tippers. It was not the first time I had seen shocking fly tipping on that stretch of pavement.
Firstly, and most obvious is the lack of houses overlooking that part of the road. Opposite is a bookies and the wall runs along a shop that is closed at night. So there is likely no one to observe those doing the tipping but there are lots of spots like that, why does this one get such aggravated dumping?
Secondly, it's next to a major through road, pretty easy to quickly park up, chuck out some junk and drive off when the lights turn green. No hanging around trying to edge out into traffic.
So, so far, we have ease of access and getaway as well as lack of observers, but I think there may be a third reason that this space attracts this rubbish.
This telephone cabinet has stood derelict and vandalised for a long while. It gives out a strong message of neglect. It says that no one looks out for this area. It draws more rubbish because of its mere presence.
Now I know that some critics think that 'broken window' theory (of which this is an example) is too easy and other factors are more important, but recent research from the Netherlands has concluded after a serious of experiments that one disorder leads to new disorders by "weakening the goal of acting appropriately."
As I surveyed the mess stretching along the wall up to the telephone cabinet, I couldn't help recalling this research and wondering if a broken telephone cabinet is part of the reason for this problem. Couldn't help to fix it and see if it helps!
Notes:
Read more here about what the researchers did to test this. The article is not without its criticism of the broken window theory and it may make a point that it doesn't cover all the bases but it is interesting to read what the researchers did
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