# Muck heaps



## cake492 (4 April 2008)

Does anyone know the law regarding clearing private muck heaps? We have a vindictive neighbour who hates horses, and has reported our muck pile to the local council. A guy visited us yesterday and asked us to clear it. The muck pile consisting straw and manure (rotting down), is approx 1 yard high and 2 metres long. The nearest house (the awful neighbour) is about 200 feet away and there is only a very slight odour, which can only be smelled if you stand next to the pile. Also, the muck heap is situated on a private lane, with private access only. 
We rent the land and stable adjacent to our house from a local landowner, and as he also owns the land the muck heap is on, he told us to pile it there. He doesn't want to know about the Council problem. 
Can the Council prosecute us if we don't clear it, and is a private muck heap classed as an environmental health hazard? 
Anyone involved with a local council, or someone who has had a similar problem, I would love to hear from you.


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## Cahill (4 April 2008)

i think the neighbours would have to prove it was causing a`niusence`in the way that people complain about loud music etc
i dont think the muckheap is a problem itself unless it is leaking into a water course.

its always puzzled me how some people think a muck heap attracks vermin.....do rats eat poo????????


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## LCobby (4 April 2008)

Yes, and the bugs and things that live in it. they do, thats why they often live in sewers
grain and straww from bedding and left over hay.
Ther are a lot fo ruless and regs regarding muak heaps, runoff, dispoasl etc. but are your is toally private, it wonlt come uder commercial waste.
Cant be many weeks of it thouhg, if its only a metre high and 2 meteres long?
Whereis it going eventually, or when youhave several months worth?


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## cake492 (4 April 2008)

The muck pile started in November, we have been disposing of some each month, by composting in our garden etc.
We live in a tiny village in the heart of the countryside, the whole place stinks of manure from the farms nearby. This is just someone being vindictive, because they hate horses!


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## NeilM (4 April 2008)

I have a lot to do with Local Authorities in my work. I am afraid I don't know the answer to your question, but I do know that unless the Council issue you with an enforcement order, then their capacity is advisory.

We have nasty neighbours (local dog walkers) and as a result we have had to get planning permission for some small jumps that we put out in the field in spring / summer. We were then told we also had to have planning permission for a small starvation paddock we build last year. That one I fought and the Council very quickly backed down.

Don't take it as read that you have to do something, just because they tell you. Go on the Local Authority web site and have a look what the laws and bylaws are, they will be there somewhere and you can use them to fight back.


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## flowerlady (4 April 2008)

[ QUOTE ]
its always puzzled me how some people think a muck heap attracks vermin.....do rats eat poo???????? 
	
	
		
		
	


	









[/ QUOTE ]

I know they aren't vermin but you do sometimes get snakes in and I suppose the vermin in winter may bed in there for warmth but not sure.

The land that we rent we had a muck heap near a wall.  Each year farmer cleared it and put it on his vegetables, about same distance from the house.  The owner the house over the wall stopped me one day and said 'can you move that muck heap, it stinks and we're getting flies in the conservatory'.  We moved it within 3 hours about 200yds away onto the dividing hedge between fields.  Can you just move its site away from any houses?

I'd also ring the council and ask them why they have asked you to move it.  It may just be the good neighbourly thing they are trying to encourage.  But I'd check it out and ask if you don't move it what are the implications.  Or ask what if I move it further away?


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## Amymay (4 April 2008)

[ QUOTE ]
 I know they aren't vermin but you do sometimes get snakes in  

[/ QUOTE ] 

We had a beautiful grass snake in ours last year.


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## SSM (4 April 2008)

[ QUOTE ]
 [ QUOTE ]
 I know they aren't vermin but you do sometimes get snakes in  

[/ QUOTE ] 

We had a beautiful grass snake in ours last year.  
	
	
		
		
	


	





[/ QUOTE ]


EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW - Sorry but I do not like snakes


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## Cahill (4 April 2008)

i quite like my muckheap.
stacking it,turning it,how it cooks and breaks down.i like the smell and the steam and the little birds that feed off of it in the winter.and the lovely crumbly end product for garden.

stoopid neighbours


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## mattilda (4 April 2008)

Once when we had our muckheap emptied it was full of baby grass snakes. There were loads of them! They were so pretty. I was running around collecting them so they didn't get squashed and my OH was going mad with me!!!
Definitely ring the council and see where you stand with the muck heap. We were denied planning permission on a barn by them and it finally turned out we didn't need pp because we of our classification or something.


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## PennyJ (4 April 2008)

I would suspect that if anyone was to be prosecuted, it would ber the landowner not you.  Anyway as long as it's not running off into and polluting a watercourse, I don't think there's a lot the council can do.  Perhaps in the interests of peace and harmony you could start up a new muckheap a bit further away from the stroppy neighbours.


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## SpruceRI (4 April 2008)

You could cover it with a plastic tarpaulin to keep the flies in or out, and the pong in.


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