Highways England flies to the rescue of animal charity when tyres dumped next to A45

Around 70 tyres were left on an embankment next to an A45 layby in Northamptonshire and on the edge of a popular fishing lake.

When the offence was flagged to the project team at the nearby Chowns Mill improvements scheme they immediately thought of NANNA (Northamptonshire Animals Needing Nurturing and Adoption). Much to the charity’s delight, they were able to donate some of the dumped tyres which are being transformed into sand baths for the chickens and geese and will also be used as planters.

Highways England Project Manager Dean Holloway said:

Fly-tipping and litter is damaging for the wildlife and the environment, these tyres were left next to a fishing lake. Clearing it up takes up workers’ time and resources which would be better spent getting on with improving the network. But at least in this instance we were were able to ensure something good came out of the reckless fly-tipping.

We are always grateful for people’s patience when carrying out major projects such as the Chowns Mill roundabout improvements and therefore like to ensure we are being a good neighbour and to support local communities.

We had previously visited NANNA to see if we could support them and they had mentioned needing a few tyres. So when these tyres were illegally dumped we knew they would appreciate some.

NANNA helps all animals great and small from wildlife through to domestic pets and farm animals and have around 750 animals on the site at Irthlingborough.

Co-founder and trustee Petrina Alderman said:

We were over the moon that Highways England were able to help us. It was perfect timing as we needed a few tyres for our birds.

We will paint the tyres and fill them with sand and soft soil for the birds to use as baths. It helps their plumage to stay nice and deal with any parasites.

The improvements scheme will tackle congestion at Chowns Mill roundabout where the A45 is crossed by the A6. It also provides access into Higham Ferrers and Rushden.

The junction is now being redesigned as a half hamburger layout with a new link road connecting the A6 South and A5028 with the existing roundabout. In addition all approaches will be widened to provide extra lanes and capacity bringing safer and more reliable journeys for drivers.

More information about the Chowns Mill improvement project can be found on the scheme website.

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