Asked by The Lord Bishop of St Albans To ask
Her Majesty’s Government what further action they are taking to
deal with the recent rises in fly-tipping. The Lord Bishop of St
Albans My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in
my name on the Order Paper. In so doing, I express my regret
that...Request free trial
Asked by
-
The Lord
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what further action they
are taking to deal with the recent rises in fly-tipping.
-
The Lord
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my
name on the Order Paper. In so doing, I express my regret
that I could not find a suitable topical for International
Women’s Day.
-
(Con)
My Lords, fly-tipping blights communities and poses a risk
to human health and the environment. Tackling this issue is
a priority for the Government. As set out in our manifesto,
we have given councils the power to issue fixed penalty
notices for small-scale fly-tipping. This builds on
previous action, including giving authorities the power to
seize and crush vehicles involved, strengthening sentencing
guidelines for environmental offences and publishing a
revised Waste Duty of Care Code of Practice.
-
The Lord
I thank the Minister for his reply, but clearly the
existing powers are simply not working. Figures issued by
Defra just last week show that the incidence of reported
fly-tipping increased by 4% last year, while the amount
that Her Majesty’s Government spent on both prevention and
prosecution fell by 4%. Given that many people consider
that high levels of landfill taxation are a contributory
factor to the increase in fly-tipping, will Her Majesty’s
Government consider the possibility of increasing the level
of money for enforcement action against waste crime funded
from this tax?
-
My Lords, I thank the right reverend Prelate for that
question. I should point out that the statistics of
increases of 4% in the incidence of fly-tipping have to be
looked at very carefully, because different local
authorities gather these statistics in different ways. It
would be useful to examine how these figures look this time
next year because the power for local authorities to issue
fixed penalty notices came in only in May 2016, so we would
like to think there will be some effect on this issue next
year. The right reverend Prelate also mentioned landfill
tax. I will take careful note of what he said, but as he is
aware, this goes into central government.
-
(LD)
My Lords, I declare my interest as a member of Sheffield
City Council, where last year there were 12,000 incidences
of fly-tipping. That equates to 33 a day, which is
replicated in most local authorities across the country. In
light of that and of the LGA predicted funding gap of £5.8
billion in three years’ time for local government, will the
Government introduce a compulsory bring-back scheme by
producers of bulky items, such as mattresses and sofas, to
contribute to dealing with the issue of fly-tipping?
-
My Lords, the noble Lord raises an interesting point on a
bring-back scheme. That happens with some white goods, such
as fridges or washing machines, when the company agrees to
take back the old ones. The House must be aware that there
have been 494,000 enforcement actions over the last year
against fly-tipping. Also, we must not forget that, with
regard to larger-scale fly-tipping, in the 2015 spending
review a further £20 million was made available to fight
waste crime.
-
(Lab)
My Lords, does the Minister understand the anger felt by
farmers that, because fly-tipping occurs on their private
land, they are expected to pay their own clean-up costs,
which can often total thousands of pounds? The NFU reports
that dumping is happening on an industrial scale, with
two-thirds of farmers affected, so can the noble Lord give
some comfort to those farmers that meaningful action will
be taken to address the problem of dumping on private land?
-
The noble Baroness brings our attention to the problem in
rural areas, which is a real blight on our landscape. In
many cases, it is more obvious in rural areas than in urban
areas. The local authorities will provide advice and
guidance on how to prevent further fly-tipping, or may
investigate if there is sufficient evidence. The noble
Baroness will also be aware of the National Fly-tipping
Prevention Group, which is chaired by the Government and
includes representatives from central and local government,
enforcement authorities, the waste industry and private
landowners. Under its framework, it is outlining the best
practice for prevention, reporting, investigation and
clearance of fly-tipping.
-
The (CB)
My Lords, as we have just heard, the present law is that
the cost and responsibility for removing fly-tipped rubbish
occurs to the landowner. Is that fair? I declare an
interest, in that this has happened to me on a number of
occasions.
-
The noble Duke will be aware also that on public land it is
the responsibility of local authorities to remove the
rubbish. It is unacceptable wherever it happens. He
referred to fly-tipping on his own land, and therefore he
should be aware that the National Fly-tipping Prevention
Group, as part of its representation, has members of the
NFU and landowners who are looking at this problem.
However, the noble Duke is quite correct that, for dumping
on private land, it is the responsibility of the landowner.
Of course, when enforcement takes place through the
Environment Agency for large-scale dumping, it will make
every effort to track down the person who has dumped the
rubbish and prosecute them.
-
(Con)
Would not more cameras help in these instances?
-
My noble friend makes a very good point. Where they are
available, particularly in urban areas, cameras will of
course be made use of to try to track down offenders.
-
(LD)
My Lords, the Minister has given us a lot of statistics. But
if in my local borough it costs more than £50 to the local
authority or a rubbish removal company to remove a divan and
base, perhaps it is not surprising that many people who are
not as observant of the law as myself will dump these. Surely
the way of stopping that is to stop these usurious charges by
local authorities.
-
I will have to write to the noble Lord on those issues
relating to local authorities. However, when householders
wish to have rubbish removed from their gardens, they must
ensure that the person or company they hire carries a waste
carrier licence, so that the householder fulfils their duty
of care for the rubbish to be removed correctly.
|
