A gate offering flytippers direct access to dump their rubbish in a community garden set up by residents in Plaistow is being blocked.

It comes after Geoff Juden, who recently set up the The East London Garden Society, highlighed the problem to the Newham Recorder after visiting the garden in Balaam Street.

Mr Juden said a railing running along the nearby Greenway is also falling apart allowing people to flytip into the Urban Wilderness Garden.

The metal fence sits between the Greenway, which the council is responsible for and the banks along it on land owned by Thames Water.

Mr Juden said: “Gardeners are constantly having to clear rubbish from their community garden and Thames water are not interested.”

A contractor for Thames Water is now understood to have cleared the rubbish and is working with the council to seal the fence.

Speaking to the Recorder from the site, Ian Calder, director of Calder Serives Ltd, said: “I’ve cleared some black bags and there is no other rubbish here at the moment. In the past there has been problems with mattresses, bedding, cookers and fridge freezers being dumped here. We clear the rubbish but the fence is 70 to 80 years old and at less than five feet it is not high enough to stop people leapfrogging over it. You won’t stop that unless you put up an eight feet fence with spikes at the top costing hundreds of thousands of pounds.

“I’ve bent the railing back and advised the council to get the fence locked up or welded.”

A spokeswoman for Thames Water since confirmed they have asked the council to weld the gate. A chain link in the fence is also being repaired, she added.

She said: “This is being done imminently so the community garden can continue to thrive. We hope this will stop the problem, but we’ll monitor the situation to ensure nothing more needs to be done.

“We’re paying for the repairs. But it is very much a joint effort with the council as it is on a joint boundary.”

A council spokeswoman confirmed they are working with Thames Water to get the fence fixed “as soon as possible.”