Abandoned cars, fly-tipped waste and ownership row – how South London allotments fell into chaos

Residents want the barren fly-tipped land near Sutton station to be returned to wildlife, but the site is the subject of a tussle over ownership

Residents in a quiet corner of Sutton say a long-running land dispute has turned a once-lush green space into a wasteland, now blighted by what one campaigner described as “the worst fly-tipping site I have seen in the borough”.

Frustrated by what they see as years of inaction, residents are now demanding Sutton Council intervenes to improve the rapidly deteriorating land.

The fly-tip is wedged between Albert Road on one side and the rail line serving nearby Sutton station on the other. During a visit to the site, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) found piles of waste stretching for almost 200 metres along the fence line, including discarded mattresses, children’s toys, fridge freezers and sealed suitcases.

“It’s a constant eyesore for everyone here,” said Helen John, a Sutton resident and Green Party activist who has been working with residents of Albert Road to draw attention to the issue. The land’s visible decline is more striking given it was once allotments and green space used by residents.

Frustrated residents, including Tom Saunders and Andrew Devlin, say they have repeatedly raised concerns about the land, with Tom telling the LDRS: “We engage with the council about this on an almost daily basis.”

Both Andrew and Tom own properties near the site and fear the growing piles of waste are attracting pests, while also damaging the area’s appearance and potentially affecting local property values. Standing beside the fly-tipped land, Andrew told the LDRS: “We’ve watched the site slowly decline since the end of the Covid pandemic.”

They believe the site’s location away from major roads, combined with the absence of a controlled parking zone, initially made it an attractive target for fly-tippers, who could park nearby and dump waste with little risk of being challenged. As rubbish accumulated, they say, the problem snowballed and encouraged others to do the same.

Attempts have since been made to tackle the fly-tipping, with residents installing warning signs and metal barriers. Local litter-picking efforts were also undertaken along the strip, but were eventually halted after residents found what they believed to be asbestos.

Residents also credited Sutton Council with clearing 15 abandoned cars that had long been left on the site. Yet despite these efforts, the land’s long-term future remains unresolved, entangled in a complex, long-running dispute over contested ownership and highly lucrative development rights.

Who owns the land?

The two main parties at the centre of the dispute are Czech developer Charles Stein, whose company Metropolitan Resources Limited owns the land where the fly-tipping has accumulated, and William Batchelor, who owns a strip of land on Albert Road bordering Mr Stein’s site. Tom described the conflict between the rival developers as a “sort of war of roses over the years”.

The LDRS understands that Mr Stein has owned the land since 1987 and previously submitted plans to build 27 homes on the site in the following decade. However, despite initial promise, those proposals were withdrawn and, to date, no planning application for the site has ever been approved.

However, according to Mr Stein, future development plans have been complicated by Mr Batchelor’s ownership of the adjoining site. Speaking to the LDRS from Czechia, he said he believes Mr Batchelor acquired the adjoining land in order to block any further development, though the LDRS has been unable to contact Mr Batchelor to put this to him.

Mr Stein said: “The reality is too many people are struggling for the land, and it has created a controversy.”

In 2020 contractors are understood to have installed large concrete blocks to prevent vehicle access and installed hardstanding on the site though it’s unclear whether Mr Stein had any knowledge of this.

Mr Stein said he still hopes to develop his site, saying: “I feel it is better to develop the land, it is economically viable. You are not losing too much of a green space with that land.”

Residents want it returned to nature

After years of little progress, residents now want to see the site cleared and improved in the medium term. Following a recent community consultation organised by Helen, residents reached a clear consensus in favour of wildlife conservation over commuter parking, with strong opposition to any commercial development on the ecologically sensitive site.

Tom told the LDRS: “We just want allotments or anything that makes it better than it is at the moment… it will be a win-win for the council.”

Helen, a landscape architect by trade, also highlighted the site’s ecological potential as a nature reserve, largely due to its underlying chalk geology. “This is a biodiversity opportunity area,” she noted.

To realise their plans, residents say they have obtained a private commercial quote of £3,000 to fully clear the site themselves. Tom, who has lived on Albert Road since 1999, urged the council to reimburse them for the work, saying: “We are not asking for a stupid amount of money.”

However, the Lib Dem-run council has signalled this is unlikely, telling the LDRS it “would not normally cover the cost of removal of waste from private land when we cannot recover the costs”.

The council also raised concerns over the site’s status as private property, saying “anyone entering it to remove materials could be trespassing”.

Despite this, Helen believes the council has the power to clear the site, arguing that it amounts to a “statutory nuisance” and poses an immediate risk to public health.

Helen has also started a fundraiser for a clean-up of the site to turn it back into a wildlife haven. The page titled Turning Waste Into Wildlife is hosted on Gofundme.

Following Helen and residents’ campaigning, the council issued a legally binding Planning Enforcement Notice to the landowner, Mr Stein, which came into full effect on May 2. The notice requires that the site is not used for parking and vehicle storage, the concrete barriers are removed and the hard standing is broken up with the site restored to its original condition, allowing nature to regenerate.

“The council are making the right noises at the moment,” Tom told the LDRS. However, when the LDRS visited in mid-June, the site remained littered with rubbish and the concrete barriers were still in place.

A spokesperson for Sutton Council said: “We understand and share residents’ frustrations about the continued fly-tipping on this private piece of land in Albert Road.

“We have visited the site several times and have seen the problems first-hand. Our officers have removed abandoned vehicles and we have now served an enforcement notice on the landowner requiring him to keep the site clear of fly-tipping.

“The council is determined to see these issues resolved urgently so that residents don’t have to put up with the fly-tipping in Albert Road. We will continue to ensure the landowner fulfils the requirements of the enforcement notice served by the council.”

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