Asked by
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps the propose to take to
reduce the amount of illegal fly-tipping, particularly in rural
areas.
The Minister of State, Department for the Environment, Food and
Rural Affairs, Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department for
International Development () (Con)
[V]
My Lords, fly-tipping is unacceptable and the Government are
committed to tackling this crime. We have given local authorities
powers to issue fixed-penalty notices, seize vehicles and
investigate and prosecute fly-tippers. Fly-tipping has reportedly
increased in some areas and decreased in others during the
Covid-19 pandemic. We have worked with local authorities and
published guidance to support the reopening of household waste
and recycling centres, with more than 90% of local authorities
now providing some level of service.
(Con)
My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend the Minister for that
reply. Is it not the case that, as he said in the Answer, a
number of local authority waste disposal facilities have been
closed in recent weeks, which has made matters worse? Can he use
his influence with local authorities to reopen all the facilities
that have been shut?
[V]
Based on the limited data we have—there is a not a huge
amount—there appears to have been an overall increase in reports
of fly-tipping, although, as I said, in some areas it has
decreased. It does not necessarily mean that fly-tipping has
increased across the country. The good news is that, as a
consequence of recent changes, more than 90% of local authorities
are now providing some level of HWRC services.
(Con) [V]
My Lords, does the Minister agree that it is grossly unjust that
landowners should be fined and are also expected to bear the cost
of disposal of materials illegally fly-tipped on their property?
Illegal fly-tippers must be made to pay for this, not the
landowner. It should include the seizure and disposal of their
vehicles to help with remuneration.
[V]
We expect local authorities to investigate fly-tipping incidents
on private land, prosecute the fly-tippers wherever they can and
recover clearance costs wherever possible. On conviction, a costs
order can be made by the court so that a landowner’s costs can be
recovered from the perpetrator. Making landowners responsible for
clearing fly-tipped waste ensures that there is no perverse
incentive to dump waste and encourages them to take measures to
prevent dumping on their land.
(CB) [V]
My Lords, are the penalties balanced correctly? On average,
somebody is fined £450 for transgressing, but on average it costs
the landowner some £800 to get rid of rubbish. Should we not have
more council dumps? Would this not alleviate the problem in the
first place?
[V]
The noble Lord makes a good point. However, the Government are
very much taking action and, I believe, are on the front foot.
The resource and waste strategy commitments include a whole raft
of measures to make it easier for waste to be used as a resource
and harder for it to drop out of the system illegally. The
Environment Bill has several measures to help tackle waste crime
generally and to ensure that waste criminals are held to account.
We will deliver on our manifesto commitment to continue working
with magistrates, the Sentencing Council and the Judicial Office
to deliver tougher punishments for people who engage in
fly-tipping. In addition, local authorities have enhanced powers
to tackle fly-tipping, including powers to search and seize the
vehicles of suspected fly-tippers, and fixed-penalty notices—as
the noble Lord said—of up to £400.
(Lab) [V]
My Lords, following on from the question asked by the noble Lord,
Lord Berkeley, does the Minister not agree that the number of
recycling centres needs to be increased and that they need to be
local and within easy reach of the public to encourage their use?
What, then, is the Government’s response to the recent warning
from Conservative council leaders that, without financial
support, such services will have to be reduced on a grand scale?
[V]
We recognise that, as a consequence of a lot of the initiatives
that are coming in on the back of the Environment Bill and the
waste strategy, there will be greater pressure on local
authorities to recycle. We will therefore require them to have a
more consistent approach—for example, with a guaranteed
collection of a wide range of recyclable products. Although we
recognise that local authorities will need to scale up, we are
also committed to ensuring that they will not face an extra cost
as a consequence of that legislation. Therefore, whatever the
additional cost to them, it will be recouped either from the
producers of waste or from central government.
(LD) [V]
My Lords, since the advent of lockdown, there has been, as others
have said, an increase in fly-tipping. Although local authorities
are now able to open HWRCs, some have chosen not to, and those
that are open will not take garden waste. Will the Minister now
put pressure on local authorities to ensure that garden waste is
accepted at HWRCs so that it is not dumped in our countryside?
[V]
As I said earlier, there has been progress in reopening
facilities and the vast majority have now reopened. But we
recognise that, for a whole host of reasons, local authorities
are heavily stretched as a consequence of the impact of Covid-19.
That is why the Government have announced £3.2 billion of
additional funding to support them in responding to the pandemic,
including in the core services that they provide in relation to
the collection, processing and removal of waste. In addition,
Defra has published guidance for local authorities on the
prioritisation of waste collection services and managing
household waste recycling centres.
(Non-Afl)
[V]
My Lords, has there been a quantification of fly-tipping in rural
areas since the onset of the pandemic and is there a comparative
figure with this time last year?
[V]
We have limited data on the increase, but it seems to us that in
a large number of areas across the country, both urban and rural,
fly-tipping has increased. The Government’s approach is not to
take over the control or management of waste in each local area
but to set a clear legal framework, to write the rules and to
ensure that, where people transgress, the enforcement powers are
there for local authorities.
(Con) [V]
My Lords, will my noble friend encourage local authorities to use
the covert surveillance powers that they have, and will he make
an assessment of whether the current level of fines is sufficient
to enable local authorities to afford to do that?
[V]
My noble friend makes a very important point. Of course, it is up
to local authorities, often working with the local police, to
determine whether and where CCTV cameras, for example, should be
placed. Defra is of the view that CCTV has an important role to
play. We are also encouraging private landowners to consider
installing appropriate deterrent signage, as well as CCTV
cameras.
(CB) [V]
Does not the high cost of the landfill tax and the complexity of
waste regulations make fly-tipping the easy, and therefore the
chosen, option? Some desirable activities such as building cannot
avoid producing waste. Can we reduce the costs for small
businesses and individuals by simplifying the regulations? Do
people not respond better to incentives than to penalties?
[V]
I do not think that it is possible to avoid the perverse
incentive for some to engage in fly-tipping while, at the same
time, ramping up our ambitions in relation to the elimination of
unnecessary waste across the system. The Environment Bill takes
us much further in that direction, putting a huge onus on
producers to take responsibility for the waste that they
generate, abandoning all kinds of unnecessary single-use plastic
items, introducing deposit return schemes and managing the export
of plastic waste to countries that simply cannot cope with it.
Alongside that, there will of course be some incentive for
criminal activity, and that is why we are providing local
authorities with the powers and tools that they need to
eliminate, or at least minimise, that risk.
(Lab) [V]
My Lords, does the Minister accept that many fly-tippers are
repeat offenders and often operate as part of a criminal gang?
What discussions have taken place with the Home Office to ensure
that policing in rural areas is increased and that rural crime is
at last taken seriously?
[V]
In addition to providing more powers for local authorities to
tackle fly-tipping, including, as I said earlier, the power to
search and seize the vehicles of suspected fly-tippers, and fixed
penalties and so on, we have launched the Joint Unit for Waste
Crime. Its purpose is not to deal with mundane or small levels of
fly-tipping but to take on serious and organised criminality in
the waste sector. That means bringing all the relevant agencies
together and effectively stamping out the organised component of
waste crime.
(LD) [V]
In my experience, local authorities feel that an exceptionally
high burden of proof is required to gain a prosecution. Since
2014, only two cases in the magistrates’ court have attracted the
maximum fine of £50,000. Therefore, does the Minister agree that
it is perhaps time to review the sentencing guidelines?
[V]
There has been an increase in the number of people who have been
brought to justice on the back of fly-tipping, and that increase
has happened year on year, so I think that we are heading in the
right direction. In 2018-19, local authorities in England dealt
with over 1 million fly-tipping incidents—an increase of 8% from
the year before. Nearly two-thirds of that involved household
waste but a very small component, around 3%, involved
industrial-scale disposal of waste—of tipper lorry-load size or
larger. Therefore, I think that the legal framework has been
strengthened and it seems to be taking us in the right direction.
