An investigation has been launched after "industrial scale" fly-tipping blighted a beauty spot at Holbrook on Thursday morning.

Former Ipswich Town star Simon Milton was shocked at the scale of fly-tipping he found in Hales Grove near Alton Water: "It's a lorry load. It must have been brought there and just dumped - but it wasn't just a car boot. This was on an industrial scale."

Babergh council was alerted to the fly-tipping by a tweet from Mr Milton - and sent along a team to investigate it for any clues about where it had come from. It is due to be cleared on Friday,

The rubbish included mattresses, floor coverings, plastic sheets and dozens of black bags full of rubbish.

%image(15138351, type="article-full", alt="Simon Milton said the fly-tipping was on an "Industrial scale."")

Mr Milton said: "I feel for the council. They've now got to come out and clear this up and then try to find out who left it here. If they don't then the farmer will - it's just wrong. I hope they find out who did this and go after them."

He had seen fly-tipping quite often in the area: "But I've never seen anything like this. It was on a different scale."

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A spokeswoman for the council said that between October and December 2020 there were 268 reports of fly tipping in Babergh and Mid Suffolk, compared to only 149 for the same time period in 2019.

She said: "Despite the significant increase in workload, our teams still managed to investigate and clear 97% of reports within our target of 48 hours.

"Reports received for January 2021 also suggested an increase in fly tipping in the districts, with 98 reports received, compared to 80 in January 2020. The team investigated and cleared 99% of the reports within our target of 48 hours."

%image(15138352, type="article-full", alt="Dozens of rubbish bags left at Hales Grove at Holbrook")

She added: “Our council is immensely grateful for the public’s help in reporting fly tipping, which can be done quickly and easily via our website 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“We would also encourage anyone using a third party to dispose of waste, to ensure this will not be fly tipped, by verifying the waste carrier’s license either on the Environment Agency website or by calling 03708 506 506.”

%image(15138154, type="article-full", alt="Flooring materials were left at Holbrook")

Councils from around the country reported an increase in calls about fly-tipping during last year's first lockdown - and that was also the case in Suffolk. Cases did dip after household recycling centres reopened - but has remained at a relatively high level.