The sight of rubbish tipped beside the county's roads has become an all too common occurrence.

Sacks of garden waste, piles of rubble and household rubbish gets dumped in verges and field entrances with depressing regularity.

But the eyesore which has been allowed to develop at Redbridge Hollow is in a different league altogether.

For two decades, flytippers have disposed of 926 square metres of waste - which will cost no less than £858,000 to clear up.

While steps have now been taken to prevent this mountain of trash from growing, it seems incredible that it was allowed to get so bad.

Of course the blame lies squarely at the door of the fly-tippers, who have no respect for human health or the environment.

But, if action had been taken far earlier, the site's neighbours would not have had to live next to this gigantic health hazard, and we, the taxpayers, would not now be lumbered with such a massive clean-up bill.

Let's also hope our authorities never take their eye off the ball again, inadvertently allowing such a situation to develop in the future.