Those responsible for dumping this enormous pile of waste at the entrance to the Fallowfield Loop face prosecution, council bosses say.
Locals were left stunned to find the huge mound of waste completely blocking the entrance to the popular cycle path on Station Ride in Reddish, Stockport.
Containing an array of household waste, which appears to have been burnt, it was several feet high at points.
Stockport council chiefs say they have had to call in the Environment Agency to examine it and organise its removal, due to its scale.
Pictures of the pile of rubbish were widely shared on social media.
Ian Kane said on Twitter: "Nice surprise on the cycle to work... flytippers have completely blocked the Station Road Reddish entry to the Fallowfield Loop."
Scourge of Jim said on Twitter: "There’s always fly tipping at this Fallowfield loop entrance but this is next level. If you look closely there’s a full grown man & bicycle for scale. Unbelievable.
"It’s so high there’s a danger it’ll collapse."
Campaigners who have worked hard to make the loop, an off-road route which runs from Chorlton to Debdale Park in Gorton, accessible hit out at those who dumped the rubbish and endangered pedestrians and cyclists.
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Joe Paxton from the Reddish WalkRide group said: "I have worked hard to encourage local people to leave their cars at home and get onto two wheels to beat the traffic, lower pollution levels and lead a healthier lifestyle.
"Part of this has involved publicising the Fallowfield Loop, which is a fantastic off-road route that enables families to cycle together safe from speeding traffic, and provides a great alternative for commuters to get around the city.
"However the access point in North Reddish at Station Road is continually blighted by flytipping, which in today’s case has actually blocked off access to the Loop entirely.
"A simple solution to this would be to place four bollards across the access point at the end of Station Road – this would surely be substantially cheaper than Stockport council having to organise cleanup operations involving hazmat professionals on a regular basis."
Stockport council cabinet member Sheila Bailey said: “We are extremely disappointed to hear of the fly-tipping incident near the entrance to the Fallowfield Loop in Reddish.
"Due to the scale of this incident we are liaising with the regulating body who are the Environment Agency, and it has been raised to them- incident number 1720348.
“We have already gathered evidence and will be working with the EA in their investigations to help bring this horrible act and serious criminal offence to justice.
"We’d like to urge anyone who may have information on this incident to come forward and get in touch by emailing district.group@stockport.gov.uk.
“We currently have a number of covert cameras situated around the borough to provide evidence in prosecutions for any fly-tipped waste, however we will also look into the use of bollards as a preventative measure to support this approach.”
