Zaynab Akhtar and her sister Farzana have been living in Hyson Green for more than 30 years – and they say it’s now being destroyed by people dumping dangerous amounts of rubbish.
Both say flytipping in the area is so bad it’s now having a huge impact on people’s wellbeing.
On a walk around Hyson Green the pair lead me to a hidden car park filled with over-flowing bins and unauthorised waste including sofas and household items.
When fly-tipping becomes a ‘risk’ to residents
Zaynab says she became used to walking past fly-tipping without acknowledging its health implications. But when it started to affect family members visiting her home, it became more of a problem.
The mum-of-two said: “For us it was like an eyesore to begin with and then it started to affect us personally.
“We have family members with weak immune systems having treatment in the hospital and they would walk past the fly-tipping [areas] with rotting meat left on the floor [attracting flies and pests].
“So you can imagine how much of a risk that was too them.”
Both sisters run Hyson Green Community Action, which campaigns against illegal dumping.
A community meeting in February 2025 heard in the wider Berridge Ward area, there were 116 flytipping reports in three months between February and April 2025 – or more than one per day.
Group director Farzana, 47, says it wasn’t her original plan to set up the organisation, but it evolved from both women being frustrated with the way the area looked.
Hyson Green Community Action says small wins lead to big changes
The pair are collaborating with Nottingham City Council to recruit new local volunteers to document hotspots for fly-tipping in the Hyson Green Area.
It’s clear, they say, that residents are independently reporting incidents to the council after being fed up with litter being dumped on the side of the road and in hidden car parks.
However, these incidents are not available for the group to access so they can build a bigger picture of what’s happening locally.
“The more reports [we get] the better, the louder the voice, then other people and services are aware of the problem.”
Farzana Akhtar
Zaynab wants people to join forces with the group, adding: “Before we see a solution, we need to understand where [the waste] is coming from, where are the hotspots and where to put our focus on.”
Farzana added: “The more reports [we get] the better, the louder the voice, then other people and services are aware of the problem.”
Despite succeeding with a petition to the city council last year, leading to increased bin collections in the area, and the council installing CCTV to catch perpetrators, the sisters says people are still dumping rubbish and the fight isn’t over.
So far, residents who are signing up to become volunteer ‘ward champions’ are completing online training from Hyson Green Action Project on safeguarding and how to log reports on the Clear Waste app.
The sisters say the ward champion role can lead on to further external training opportunities with Nottingham City Council.
‘We went into the space disgusted with the impact it was having on local residents’: Nottz Garden Project
One of Hyson Green’s hotspots for fly-tipping is Berridge Road West, a former dumping ground turned into a beloved community garden by Nottz Garden Project.
Project director Micha Bradshaw, 35, says the organisation is collaborating with the council and the action group as apart of a pilot project to reclaim community spaces which have major fly-tipping issues.
“We went into the area feeling disgusted with the impact it was having on local residents from Zaytuna Nursery and the local mosque,” says Micha.
After seeing the action group’s petition and speaking to residents from the nursery and the mosque, Micha and the team realised the impact this was having on local people.
She said: “I think it was the first time it opened my eyes up to the impact of fly-tipping beyond what it looked like aesthetically and the impact in terms of rats and rodents.
“But also how it impacted residents which were struggling with their mental wellbeing because of how bad this space was.”
The garden is a huge success for Nottz Garden Project and residents who came together to create art for the garden and pitched in to help.
This is one of the reasons Zaynab and Farzana believe it is important to amplify community voices and come together to make real change.
Hyson Green Community Action is run by local residents living in the Hyson Green area campaigning for solutions to reduce fly-tipping by involving the local community and the city council.
For more information about becoming a ward champion volunteer, visit the group website.
Nottz Garden Project is a community organisation made up of volunteer ‘guerrilla gardeners’ who renovate urban spaces into community gardens.
Their website has a list of upcoming projects.
