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In autumn 2024, Nicha Rowson began noticing a steady stream of huge lorries arriving near her house every day. After parking, the eighteen-tonne vehicles dumped trash right behind her house. They dumped all sorts of things. Nappies, black bin rubbish, chemicals, plastic. Lots of waste piling up, higher and higher.

More than a year later, nothing has been done to clear the 25,000-tonne dump site in Bickershaw, Wigan. The site has been dubbed the UK's "worst illegal waste dump", sitting at the heart of the national crisis in illegal dumping and leaving residents around "scared for life".

"The smell was just unbearable," Nicha, who lives on Bolton House Road, located just outside the dump site, told the Express.

Soon, her eight-year-old son Oliver had to move out of his own house to live with his grandmother. With autism and sensory processing issues, Oliver could not bear the smells.

The mother said: "When he does come home, he's being sick, he's not eating, he's not drinking, because he associates eating and drinking with the smell and being sick."

Residents of the area immediately contacted the Environment Agency, a public body responsible for protecting the environment. They were demanding a 24-hour closure order, only to be answered by endless automatic surveys to log the problem and long delays in action. This is despite the agency's own claim that with only about 27% of waste crime being reported, it is critical to report it "as soon as possible, allowing faster action to prevent further harm".

The council and the police were also of little help. "The police kept telling us, you need to ring the council. The council kept telling us, you need to ring the Environment Agency," Nicha explained, adding that the residents kept being ignored.

Josh Simons, the local Labour MP, has been outraged by the case and described the situation as "buck-passing" between Wigan Council, the police, and the Environment Agency. According to Sky News, Simons had been told at the start of last year that there was a criminal investigation, "and therefore no action can be taken to prevent people from dumping more on the site or intervening".

In July last year, the dump was on fire due to combustion for nine days. Nicha's family did not have any water for the first five days.

"At that point, we were all in our houses, we weren't allowed to open the doors or windows, it was in the middle of a heat wave, and we had no water. You couldn't even have a cold shower or a drink. We were crying out, 'we need baths, we need showers'," Nicha said.

On day three of the fire, Nicha collapsed from the smoke coming into their home, ending up in hospital.

She said: "I collapsed in front of my children.

"My child's gone running upstairs telling my sister-in-law that his mum's dead. He was in a frenzy thinking I was dead."

She wasn't the only one impacted. "I've got a neighbour that is on oxygen, and when the fire hit, she was scared for life.

"She wasn't getting any support from anybody, no reassurance. Every day now, she is petrified that it's going to set on fire again because if she struggles with her breathing, she'll die," Nicha added.

The nearby primary school had to shut due to the smoke.

In November, the family heard weird scratching noises. Their house was infested with rats. The infestation was so large that they had to tear down their ceiling to tackle the issue. Nicha also found a dead rat in her living room.

The council eventually solved the issue, but the dead rodents in their cavities are still causing unpleasant smells.

Fly-tipping is being paid to remove waste and then dumping it illegally - without sorting it or paying tax. It has become an easy way to make vast sums of money, with weak enforcement and minimal legal consequences, and devastating impacts on the environment.

The former head of the Environment Agency has described the practice as "the new narcotics".

It is estimated that around one fifth of all waste in England is handled illegally, Sky News reported. That equates to roughly 34 million tonnes every year, enough to fill approximately four million skips.

The problem is thought to cost the wider economy about £1 billion annually, while legitimate waste operators are estimated to lose a further £3 billion in missed business.

To avoid fly-tipping, the Environment Agency advises landowners to regularly check their land and property. Before renting out, landlords should understand what business the tenants plan to operate, and make sure that any waste-related activities have the correct planning permission. Extra caution is advised when dealing with newly formed companies or waste businesses.

Landowners should also keep an eye on how tenants are using the site once it is occupied. Warning signs can include increased lorry movements, strange smells, or complaints from neighbouring properties.

In line with the polluter pays principle, the Environment Agency told the Express, "those who deposited the waste pay for the cost of removing it. If this is not possible, it becomes the landowner's responsibility to remove the waste."

But part of the issue is that the land is owned by several parties, including Wigan Council. To complicate things further, a recent Channel 4 investigation revealed that a third of the land is also owned by the Duchy of Lancaster, the King's extensive private portfolio of properties and estates.

The Duchy told Channel 4 News that it is, in effect, exempt from regulations and duties to clean the site on account of an ancient feudal legal framework dating back some 750 years.

This is because of escheat - the process under common law by which freehold land in England and Wales, which has become ownerless, reverts to the Crown as the ultimate owner of all land.

According to the long-standing law, while the Crown receives the land, it does not inherit the burdens attached to it, like illegal dumping.

This exists to stop the Crown from being forced to take on unlimited debts, fines, or cleanup obligations every time abandoned land reverts to it.

As a result, the Duchy appears to be shifting responsibility for the clean-up by offering it to Wigan Council. This contradicts the Environment Agency's own guidance that landowners are responsible for clearing illegal waste from their property.

"The Duchy legally does not take on any liabilities in relation to escheated property but the Duchy has offered to transfer the land to Wigan Council and to co-operate with them to try and resolve the issue...In terms of co-operation, we confirmed to the Council that the Duchy had no objection to the Council or Environment Agency using their statutory powers to enter onto the land for remediation purposes," the Duchy told Channel 4.

Reacting to the Duchy's land transfer offer, the Wigan Council told the programme it "would need to consider the terms of any arrangement" as it was unlikely the value of the land would surpass the clean-up cost.

The council added: "As one of the impacted landowners, we are making efforts to clear our land, and we continue to implore all other impacted landowners to take the necessary steps to fulfil their own obligations."

Currently, Nicha's situation remains uncertain, and she still cannot live with her son. There's little progress with the dump removal, which remains to be her biggest concern.

"I want to aim at the Environment Agency, for not doing what they should do from the beginning," Nicha told the Express.

Speaking to Sky News, she added: "I can't keep saying, 'oh, soon it'll be cleared up' because it isn't. I don't know what else I can tell my child, why he has to live in this prison. Because it is, it's like a prison."

An Environment Agency spokesperson said: "Waste crime scars our communities, and we're committed to tackling it in Wigan with the local council and the police, as well as across the country.

"We are doing everything in our powers to manage the site in Bickershaw and identify the perpetrators, including by launching a major criminal investigation and interviewing individuals under caution.

"We have also sent out formal notices requiring further information and requiring the removal of waste. We continue to gather evidence from the site and from residents, keeping them informed about our progress."

A government spokesperson said: "This government is giving authorities the tools they need to fight back. We've increased the Environment Agency's enforcement budget by over 50% to £15.6 million, doubled the Joint Unit for Waste Crime, and we're introducing tougher checks and stronger penalties.

"Digital tracking will close the loopholes criminals exploit, drones are catching offenders in the act, and councils have the power to crush their vans - leaving waste criminals with nowhere left to hide."

The Daily Express approached Wigan Council for a comment.

You can sign Nicha's petition directed to King Charles to clean up the dump here.

If you need to report a waste crime, you can do so here.