Fly‑tipped paint spill clean-up to cost £16k

Clean‑up work costing about £16,000 is ongoing after a fly‑tipped liquid spill flooded part of a main road in Dorset.

An estimated 6,000 litres of green liquid, believed to be paint or a thinner-type mixture, was found leaking from large containers dumped on the A35 near Bloxworth and Morden at the start of the week.

Dorset Council said specialist tankers were pumping the liquid off the road and out of six damaged containers. It said four of the tanks and contents still needed to be removed.

The authority is trying to trace those responsible and has asked anyone who saw vehicles stopping on that stretch of the A35, or noticed anything unusual, to get in contact.

The liquid had leaked from the containers and spread along the edge of the road and into the drainage channel.

The council said: "This has led to a complex clean‑up operation and a potential risk to the local environment.

"The estimated cost is in the region of £16,000 to empty and remove the liquid and clear the affected highway and layby.

"Additional costs may be incurred if remedial work is required to the grass verge, which has also been affected."

The authority said it hoped to have the spill and tanks cleared from the side of the road in the next few days.

While the clean-up is ongoing, temporary traffic lights are in place on the stretch of road from Fox Pound to Park Corner.