Earl threatened with prosecution after a million tyres dumped on his property

The Earl of Iveagh had one million tyres and a thousand tonnes of shredded rubber dumped on his land almost a decade ago.

His estate is now facing a bill of up to £400,000 to solve a problem that was not of his making, and to add insult to injury he has been threatened with prosecution over the mess.



The earl's local council is concerned that the tyres have not been removed quickly enough, and has launched proceedings against Elveden estate in Suffolk. Estate managers have so far found a use for two thirds of the tyres, but still have more than 350,000 to deal with.

In preparation for their removal they have been made into 3,300 bales covering an area the size of a football pitch and are visible on Google Earth. Although the material was dumped illegally by a crooked businessman, it is up to the landowner to clear up the mess.



Around 600,000 tyres have been baled and used elsewhere on the East Anglia estate as a noise-deading "bund" on land near RAF Lakenheath.

But St Edmundsbury Council is unhappy that hundreds of thousands of tyres still remain on land next to the East of England Military Museum at Barnham. It has issued proceedings against the 23,000-acre estate, which stretches into Norfolk, alleging that it is in breach of an enforcement order issued in 2004.