Great British Spring Clean: National Highways turns spotlight on roadside rubbish problem

The issue of roadside rubbish has been brought sharply into focus with the deployment of CCTV cameras around one of the newest stretches of road in the country.

Lancashire’s A585 Windy Harbour to Skippool bypass is providing safer, smoother and more reliable journeys along the Wyre estuary and is one of the greenest roads National Highways has ever built.  

But since it opened in August 2024 parts of the new road and areas around it have been blighted by fly-tipping and littering – creating an eyesore and adding clean-up costs to maintenance budgets. Some of the rubbish has even included dangerous asbestos which has required costly specialist clearance.

Now National Highways is fighting back. In a bid to deter and identify the culprits, staff have installed CCTV cameras at key points along and around the three-mile route – leading to an immediate reduction in incidents.

Daniel Moore, a National Highways’ project manager on the new A585 bypass, said:

“Almost as soon as we’d opened the bypass fly-tipping started at locations along and around the new road. It is incredibly frustrating and expensive for us to have to spend our time and taxpayers’ money tackling fly-tipped rubbish – money being diverted away from our core work like improving our roads.

“Since we have installed these CCTV cameras we have had no further incidents – so it’s a good news story in a way - but we’ll have no hesitation in using footage to identify and support the prosecution of culprits.”

Fly-tippers have targeted a number of sites along the new road or near it including a couple of laybys, the old construction compound at Skippool and a section of the old, decommissioned road near Grange footbridge.  As well as asbestos, dozens of tyres, old building materials and even children’s toys have been dumped in the area.

As part of the annual Great British Spring Clean this month, National Highways is urging drivers to bin their litter with roadside rubbish a growing problem and a recent survey revealing nearly a quarter of people admit to littering on major roads 

Thousands of bags of rubbish are expected to be collected from England’s motorways and major A roads in support of the Great British Spring Clean.   

Littering on England’s major roads is a problem all year round. A recent study conducted by National Highways revealed 22% of people admit to littering on motorways and A roads, an increase of 9% (up from 13%) compared with 2024, with more than half of people (55%) unaware that littering could lead to delays due to road workers needing to pick up litter. Meanwhile, 35% of those surveyed did not consider how littering could injure or even kill wildlife.   

For this year’s campaign, National Highways has planned community events, nighttime sweeps and staff volunteer events in a bid to tackle roadside rubbish and support the Keep Britain Tidy campaign. Last year, almost 8,000 bags of litter were collected by National Highways as part of the nationwide campaign. 

Freda Rashdi, Head of Customer Journeys at National Highways said:  

“Clearing litter from our roads causes unnecessary journey delays and costs the taxpayer millions of pounds a year, as well as endangering wildlife living close to our roads.  

“Our message is really simple, littering of any kind is completely unacceptable. Putting your rubbish in the bin doesn’t just help us keep the roads moving and keep other drivers safe, it goes a long way to protecting wildlife and the environment.”