The manager of a yacht harbour said fly-tippers that dumped a pile of waste on its land have "no conscious".

Jonathon Beale, assistant manager of Burnham Yacht Harbour in Foundry Lane doubts there is any more the harbour can do to protect themselves from fly-tipping after the dump including panels and interiors from a Volkswagen van and long pieces of guttering was discovered on Friday morning.

He said: "It is annoying to say the least, these are not just small bits, it is a large pile of car parts.

"This dump is the biggest we have had since last year.

"Before this, we put fencing up to stop people from dumping on our land as we were often getting people leaving car tyres and things like that.

"We cannot do anything more to stop it, we have got CCTV in the yard because we have lots of important things in there but short of if we got a gate up further down the road from the harbour people will continue to dump here.

"People who do this do not have a conscious, they will still find a way or a place to dump their waste."

Maldon District Council spends thousands of pounds to clear fly-tips every year.

The council has said offenders can now be fined up to £50,000 and given five years in prison.

Mr Beale raised concerns the harbour, which has been struck by fly-tips on a number of occasions in recent years will have to foot the bill for this incident.

He said: "I would like to think that if this is on council owned land they will be able to clear it, the problem is if it is on private land, we will have to pay to clear it when we have not done anything wrong.

"All that is doing is punishing us."

Maldon District Council has since removed the tip from the harbour and action will be taken if they can identify the people who dumped the waste.

Bob Boyce, chairman of the council’s community services committee, said: “The council is keen to ensure that our district is not targeted by those who wish to use it as a dumping ground and we will do everything within our power to catch the culprits and make them pay for their actions.

"However, successful prosecutions rely heavily upon people coming forward with evidence and intelligence.

"Members of the public can report fly tipping online or by calling 01621 854477.

"The Council has a zero-tolerance approach to fly tipping and anyone found doing so, will be dealt with accordingly."