Clean-up ordered on Dudley Park property labelled a junkyard by environment court
AN Adelaide home labelled a junkyard by a court has until the end of next month to rid its yard of cars, trailers, a toilet, white goods, timber, scrap metal, engines, gas cylinders, furniture and bikes. The owner, however, said they were of value to him.
A DUDLEY Park man has been ordered to clean up his property after it was labelled a junkyard by the Environment Resources and Development Court.
Eric Vidic was taken to court by Port Adelaide Enfield Council last month over the dire state of his rubbish-filled Bayer Ave property.
Judge Jack Costello ordered Mr Vidic — who is storing items including cars, trailers, a toilet, white goods, timber, scrap metal, engines, gas cylinders, furniture and bikes on the property — to remove “all items from the land” by October 31.
The exceptions are working order cars, two trailers, two sets of outdoor furniture in “reasonable repair”, “no more than one canoe” and “up to five traffic cones in reasonable repair”.
Once removed, these items are marked not to be returned.
According to the council, Mr Vidic’s actions had changed the use of the land from residential to a junkyard without development approval.
But Mr Vidic told the court that the items were not scrap materials and had value to him.
However, Judge Costello ruled that “storage of scrap materials of this kind, to the extent currently present on the land, cannot be permitted to continue.”
Mr Vidic was previously ordered to remove scrap material from the property by the court in December 2015.
A nearby resident said he lived in constant fear the property would catch on fire due to the number of vehicles on site.
“It’s a constant worry,” said the resident, who did not want to be named.
“Is it going to catch on fire and spread? It’s always at the back of my mind.”
He said he was sceptical the home would ever be cleaned up.
“We’ve had so many deadlines come and go, I’ll believe it when I see it.”
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