Boat dumped on Dorset farmer’s land

A boat and trailer were found abandoned on a farm in Dorset on Tuesday (25 April) – more than 20 miles away from the sea.

The small craft was discovered by mixed beef and arable farmer Stuart Casely on his 162ha Gore Farm in the village of Trent, north-east of Yeovil.

Dorset Police attended the scene and said the boat, which had a cream-coloured hull with a black and white top, had likely been fly-tipped rather than stolen.

See also: Farmers Weekly launches Stop the Blot fly-tipping campaign

The boat was found in a sorry state, with no steering wheel or front windscreen and with its inner lining falling away.  

Gore Farm is situated less than a mile from the River Yeo, but the nearest section of the river is too shallow for craft such as the one found on Mr Casely’s farm.

Fly-tipping has reached epidemic levels in recent months, with the latest Defra statistics showing there were 936,000 reported incidents, costing the tax payer £50m in 2015-16.

Stop The Blot is a Farmers Weekly campaign designed to raise awareness of the damage caused by fly-tipping

Stop the Blot 

However, these figures are expected to be substantially higher for 2017, following councils’ decision to charge to dispose of certain types of rubbish, such as soil, asbestos and rubble, in the second half of 2016.

The statistics exclude waste dumped on private rural land, which does not reflect the true scale of fly-tipping on farms, according to the Country Land and Business Association.

Farmers Weekly has introduced a Stop the Blot campaign to raise awareness of the damage caused by fly-tipping.