New figures released today by Defra show that incidents of
fly-tipping on public land have increased by eight percent across
England in 2018/19.
The figures account for waste illegally dumped on public land
that has been reported to, and cleared by, local authorities.
They show that councils in England dealt with more than one
million fly-tipping incidents in the last year.
The Country Land and Business Association (CLA), which represents
around 30,000 rural businesses, farmers and landowners in England
and Wales, says the figures do not reflect the true scale of the
crime as they do not include reports of fly-tipping on privately
owned land. However, they do act as a barometer and show that
after a static year in 2018, the crime has returned to a
long-term upward trend.
Commenting on the figures, CLA Director General said: “These statistics
do not fully reflect the reality of the situation, as many
fly-tipping incidents take place on privately owned land.
“They also don’t show the huge emotional and financial cost of
this crime. Our members are all too tired of not only cleaning up
other people’s rubbish but paying for the privilege of doing so.
It costs on average £1,000 to clean up each incident. With many
rural businesses suffering multiple incidents, it can quickly
affect the bottom line dramatically.”
More than a third (33 percent) of all fly-tipping incidents in
2018/19 were equivalent in size to a small van load. ‘Tipper
lorry load’ sized incidents are the most expensive to clean-up,
with just three percent of incidents (36,000) costing councils
£12.9 million to deal with. Across all local authorities in
England, 76,000 fixed penalty notice fines were issued, which
only totalled just over £1 million.
Ms Hendry added: “We need a joined up approach to the issue. The
introduction of fees at many rubbish tips and recycling centres
has meant we’re now seeing the rise of organised criminal
fly-tipping. It is repeated and growing in scale and it is vital
that rural police forces recognise the changing nature of this
crime and respond accordingly.
“Finally, we need to see some changes to the law and ensure that
landowners are no longer legally liable when waste is fly-tipped
on their land. This needs to be coupled with financial and
logistical support to help victims clean up waste which has
nothing to do with them.”
The CLA has long-campaigned for tougher sentences for
perpetrators, and more support for the victims, of fly-tipping.
Read the CLA’s five point fly-tipping action
plan here.
View and download Defra’s fly-tipping figures here.
