A FACTORY boss has blamed Kirklees Council and flytippers for overflowing skips and rubbish on his land.

Abandoned mattresses and packaging littering the back yard of Bradley-based furniture maker The Joseph Factory, have angered locals after the rubbish spilled down the side of the docks and into the Huddersfield Broad Canal.

One man, who reported the eyesore to the council, complained rubbish had been blown at least half-a-mile down the canal and said the beautiful countryside was being ruined.

The man, who did not want to be named, said: “This is a popular area with dog walkers and cyclists and a little more care would keep this area nice.”

But a senior manager at the firm said the rubbish was as big a headache for him as anyone.

He said: “I have had people in the yard breaking in and flytipping and I’ve got a problem with the council not coming and emptying my skips.

“They’re supposed to come the next day, but they are not coming for four or five days, sometimes two weeks.

“You phone up but you can never get through.

“The neighbouring units owned by Yorkshire Water have had people dumping on their property too.

“Yesterday the canal was cleared out – I had some of my lads in there clearing it out. But last week someone set one of our skips on fire which has damaged brickwork and a window frame.”

The spokesman said he had plans to put up a fence and change his skip hire to a private company, but admitted that there were still issues with the security of the site.

A Kirklees Council spokesman said: “We have inspected the site and the owner has assured us that all waste on the canal side will be cleared by Friday afternoon.

“An officer will visit at this time and, if the waste has not been removed, we will start due process.

“This involves writing to the owner and looking at how he handles his waste. If he is not able to handle waste satisfactorily, a formal process may be needed.

“The skip at this site is owned by Kirklees Council, but it is a ‘request skip’ which is emptied whenever the factory owner asks us to do so.

“Other elements of waste are on site and we have been assured that the owner will use a paper recycler to resolve this issue.

“We will be keeping the situation under review.”