For over 17 months, a family in Wigan has been living a nightmare just metres from a mountain of illegally dumped waste, a situation so severe it has torn them apart.
A Family Home Turned Prison
Nicha Rowson, whose home on Bolton House Road in Bickershaw, Wigan, backs onto the site, described her property as a "prison". The ordeal began in the autumn of 2024 when dumping started at a quiet scrapyard, eventually amassing an estimated 25,000 tonnes of waste.
The impact on her family has been devastating. Her eight-year-old son Oliver, who has autism, has been made so physically ill by the relentless smell from the rotting waste that he has been forced to move out to live with his grandmother. "It's teared our family apart," Nicha told Sky News. "It's like being separated parents. Even though me and my partner are together, we're sharing the child with the grandparents."
The family's mental health has suffered immensely, and their home has been invaded by rats. The infestation was so severe they had to tear down a ceiling to tackle it, and Nicha discovered a dead rat in her living room. "They were just everywhere," she said.
National Scourge and a Glaring Inequality
This case highlights the growing national crisis of waste crime, described by a former Environment Agency head as "the new narcotics". Criminal gangs profit by taking money to remove rubbish, then dumping it illegally to avoid taxes and proper disposal costs.
Key figures reveal the scale of the problem:
- Around a fifth of all waste in England is illegally managed.
- This equates to roughly 34 million tonnes annually – enough to fill four million skips.
- The crime costs the economy an estimated £1 billion a year, with legitimate operators losing a further £3bn.
The situation in Bickershaw took a dramatic turn in July 2025 during a heatwave, when the tip caught fire. A major incident was declared, the fire burned for nine days, a local primary school closed, residents were hospitalised, and water supplies were strained.
Residents feel abandoned, a sentiment compounded by news that the Environment Agency (EA) has committed £9.6 million to clear a similarly sized illegal dump in Kidlington, Oxfordshire. Wigan MP Josh Simons accused the EA of applying "exceptional circumstances to middle-class areas in Oxford but not working-class towns in Wigan".
This disparity was raised in the House of Lords by Baroness Sheehan, who chairs the environment committee, who stressed the hazardous nature of the Bickershaw waste.
Fighting for a Solution
Nicha feels authorities "don't care". The value of their home has plummeted, potentially leaving them in negative equity. "My message to the Environment Agency is to stop thinking about the money and passing the buck - think about the mental and physical health of the residents," she pleaded.
The Environment Agency stated it is forcing the perpetrators in Wigan to pay for the clean-up, rather than taxpayers. It justified the Kidlington funding due to new information about a rapidly escalating fire risk that threatened a major highway and power supplies.
Wigan Council is paying to clear waste that spilled onto a council-owned nature reserve but has written to the EA to demand equal funding for the main site. The council acknowledges the "detrimental impact" on residents and the nearby school and is calling on the government to intervene.
