Hoarder fined £3,500 for refusing to clear junk

A hoarder has been fined £three,500 for refusing to clear an enormous pile of junk exterior her dwelling.  

Noreen Chambers was repeatedly warned to tidy up the mess exterior her dwelling in Thornton Heath, south London, however did not clear the baggage of rubble, planks of wooden, visitors cones, scaffolding poles and bricks dumped on the pavement and street.

She was first given a warning in October 2015 after a string of complaints from neighbours.

Miss Chambers was visited by council employees in November 2015, however her back and front gardens have been so jammed with garbage the employees could not get to the entrance door.

Noreen Chambers was repeatedly warned to tidy up the mess exterior her dwelling in Thornton Heath, south London, however did not clear the baggage of rubble, planks of wooden, visitors cones, scaffolding poles and bricks dumped on the pavement and street

She was issued with a Neighborhood Safety Warning the identical month and instructed to tidy up the mess by December 2015.

She ignored the letters and garbage continued to construct up exterior her dwelling - with neighbours getting more and more annoyed with the mess.

It wasn't till she was served with a Neighborhood Safety Discover, beneath the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2014, in February 2016, that she contacted the council and was granted till March to clear it up.

Once more, she did not tidy the mess up or attend conferences with council employees and the council launched authorized proceedings in opposition to her.

And final week, regardless of not attending the listening to at Camberwell Magistrates' Courtroom, she was slapped with fines totalling £three,500 and ordered to pay a £20 sufferer surcharge after being discovered responsible of failing to adjust to a Neighborhood Safety Discover.

She was instructed she had six weeks to clear the mess - or face additional authorized motion.

Neighborhood Safety Notices are handing out to folks whose behaviour has a 'detrimental impact, of a persistent or persevering with nature, on the standard of lifetime of these within the locality'.

One native, who requested to not be named, stated: 'The street has been a whole tip for greater than a yr - it takes up a lot room and is simply will get greater and greater and it stops residents from parking on the road.

'I've moved a few of it previously and put it in a skip, however each morning there was extra added.'

A spokesman for Croydon Council stated final week: 'A girl who ignored formal notices from the council and continued to pile junk exterior her property has been ordered by the courts to clear up, fined - and landed with an enormous invoice totalling greater than £three,000.

'Magistrates heard Croydon Council first tried to contact the proprietor of the home in Burlington Highway in October 2015 after neighbours complained to the council concerning the heaps of garbage surrounding the property.

'On visiting the property a neighbourhood officer discovered family and backyard garbage piled excessive in the back and front gardens however was unable to achieve entry.

'Investigations confirmed Ms Chambers to be the proprietor and after a number of unsuccessful makes an attempt to contact her, in November 2015 the council issued her with a Neighborhood Safety Warning in 2015, requiring her to clear up the mess by December.

'In February 2016, when she had nonetheless did not reply or to scrub up the garbage, which was nonetheless accumulating, Croydon Council served a Neighborhood Safety Discover on the property.

'Following this Ms Chambers did contact the council - to request an extension permitting her till March to clear the positioning, which was granted.

'However she nonetheless did not take any motion to clear the positioning and officers confirmed via visits to the property that not solely was garbage nonetheless heaped within the backyard, it was now spilling out onto the pavement and the kerb.

'In April she did not attend an interview with the council and after in depth efforts to have interaction together with her and resolve the problem informally - which have been unsuccessful - final yr Croydon Council commenced authorized proceedings.'

Cllr Stuart Collins, of Croydon Council, stated: 'It is a horrendous instance of how the thoughtless behaviour of 1 particular person can blight a group.

'Garbage dumped in residential areas not solely seems to be and smells terrible, it may be a severe well being hazard.

'Clear streets are a precedence for us and we are going to all the time attempt to work with all Croydon's residents and assist them eliminate waste responsibly however as our Do not Mess With Croydon marketing campaign exhibits, we cannot hesitate to take a troublesome stance and use enforcement powers when required.

'We've accomplished every part in our energy to work with Ms Chambers however she has refused to reply.' 

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