I am very concerned that there has been an escalation in fly-tipping in our local area, with lorry loads of waste being dumped against gate entrances, in fields and on farm tracks in a number of places.
I've been in touch with the local council on Monday, Tuesday, and again today, however so far they’ve informed me that they are not prepared to remove it as the piles of waste are on private land.
There is a clear public health impact, as well as a severe risk to local wildlife. Most importantly, I'm also concerned about the risk to farmers and their staff, should they be asked to remove it themselves, as there is no way to know what these large piles of waste contain and the health hazards associated. They also don't have a waste license to get rid of it.
These particular incidents involve vast quantities of waste, and are consistent in my view with lorry loads being dumped as part of organised criminal waste activity.
I have also been in touch with the Environment Agency to ask what they can do to tackle this, both in terms of the removal of these loads and to prevent further incidents, and I am also in touch with the police as well.
More broadly on this issue, fly-tipping incidents often relate to householders dumping their waste, or paying a small amount to unlicensed people who go on to fly-tip it rather than dispose of it responsibly. In January, the Government updated the law so that a criminal charge applies not only to someone fly-tipping, but to anyone who pays someone to remove their waste without doing due diligence to ensure that it will not be dumped. Both householder and fly-tipper are liable for a criminal penalty of £400.
The Government has also allocated £2 million to fund research into innovative approaches to tackle fly-tipping, which I welcome given the complexities involved in evidence gathering. For example, in these local cases, there is an obvious practicality issue in policing field entrances at night on quiet roads.
I believe there is a need to consider whether further legislative changes are required to tackle organised high volume waste crime and I will be meeting with the Minister responsible for waste, Rebecca Pow, very shortly to discuss what further resources or legislative changes may be need to tackle this sort of crime specifically. I will also be pushing for the Government to remove the financial responsibility of removal from landowners, as I consider it highly unfair that the victims of this crime are being forced to pay thousands to remove waste which is there through no fault of their own.
