Fly-tippers have come under fire for dumping a load of rubbish beside Forfar Loch country park – and just 200 yards from the town skip site.
It is the latest incident at a former water station which has been a regular troublespot over a number of years.
But council chiefs are still struggling to pin down who owns the land.
Beside busy road
The one-time North of Scotland Water Authority site is on Craig O’Loch Road opposite Forfar’s Aldi store.
And the latest fly-tipping includes large pots of paint, clothes, drawers and a host of other household items.
Forfar councillor Linda Clark says it’s a disgrace that someone decided to use it as a tip.
“Everyone I’ve spoken to is desperately upset this has happened,” she said.
“It’s such a shame people want to do something like that.
“We all try to do our best to help each other, but someone just decides that they don’t want to get rid of their rubbish in the way they should.
“It is not as if, as a council, we don’t provide the bin service or the facilities for people to dispose of things properly.
“I think our bins service is excellent.
“And it’s happened just a couple of hundred yards from the recycling centre along the road.
“It’s very disappointing.”
Saga surrounding site
Mrs Clark previously chaired Forfar community council and said the site was never far from their agenda.
“It’s something the council officers, councillors and the community council have been looking at for a long time,” she said.
But it seems the authority is no closer to pinning down the owner to make the site secure.
A stop notice was served as far back as 2018 to try to prevent people fly-tipping on the land.
It followed the regular dumping of rubble, soil and other building materials.
But council chiefs admitted they didn’t know who was responsible for the land.
And they said that made it difficult to recover the cost of cleaning it up.
The overgrown land is within sight of the former Lochside leisure centre.
Demolition experts are preparing to raze the building in a project scheduled to last until the spring.
The long-awaited project is costing £650,000 and comes five years after the centre closed.
But demolition plans were delayed by a lengthy court fight by two businessmen who wanted to see the centre saved for community use.
Scottish Water are also currently involved in a three-month project to replace a sewer pipe which runs through the country park.
It previous leaked raw sewage into the park, leading to complaints from locals and visitors about the smell in the area.
Conversation