A SPATE of flytipping on the Slade Green marshes has angered homeowners living nearby.

Retired Alan and Jan Hoare, of Longreach Road in Slade Green, were shocked to find waste dominated the marshes, in the area close to Ray Lamb Way.

Among items strewn across the landscape were mattresses, tyres and household furniture.

Mrs Hoare, 67, said: “It’s such a shame to see the marsh go like that.

“I think this is the only bit of riverside Bexley has got that’s not cultivated and it should be looked after.

“There are lots of birds and wildlife there.”

Mr Hoare worked on the marshes as a farmer in the 1950s.

The 69-year-old said: “The ditches used for irrigation are full up with everything you could imagine.

“We saw moorhens down there trying to get their way through mattresses.

“There were newts and water voles there when I was a kid, it was covered in them, but now the rubbish is killing the wildlife.”

Environment Agency spokesman Conal Atkinson said: “We’re working with Bexley Council and the management of the Darent Industrial Estate to address this and some other environmental issues.

“There are a number of projects in progress at the moment and we hope that the partnership work we are doing will help to improve the local environment for the future.”