'Mountain' of old Covid PPE found dumped in Hampshire

Following the investigations into the Little Testwood Farm caravan park in Calmore, New Forest District Council reported a ‘large-scale storage of packs of old PPE’.

The report was presented to councillors on the Hampshire County Council regulatory committee on Wednesday (June 14). It indicated that thousands of packs of medical aprons were ‘dumped on the land with no obvious signs that they were being protected or stored for some future use’.

‘The concern is that they have been dumped without the intention of removal to a proper facility.’

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At the meeting, the officer said, ‘This [the PPE kits] was hidden away on the back of a site. We could not get access to it.

‘It is a really good example of where there has been an illegal dumping of waste.’

The county council has contacted the Environmental Agency to see if they can determine where the PPE originated and ‘whether a health trust discarded it as substandard during the Covid procurement’.

LDRS has contacted the Environment Agency, which said that in assessing whether the incident is under its jurisdiction or not, it must visit the place first – and this will happen in the next few weeks.

On the visit, the agency will assess whether the disposal has been abandoned or not in terms of opening an investigation.

The county council also enquired the Land Registry to determine the land ownership since they were mentioned in ‘one clause’ concerning the ‘Section 106 Agreement’.

In a statement, New Forest District Council said that the inspection was carried out on April 4 and was to make sure that the site is complying with the conditions of its licence.

The district council said: ‘Little Testwood Farm has two distinct sections. The first is the occupied part, and the rear section (through a lockable gate) is the second section. It is in the second section, which comprises an open empty space where the items are stored. This section does fall within the caravan site licence, meaning the conditions attached to the licence also apply.’

After the inspection, the district council sent a letter on April 5 to the licence holders, detailing the ‘contraventions identified’ and the council says it continues to ‘work closely with the licence holders to resolve the issue’.