Letter: Fly-tipping Needs Firm Sanctions

Published on: 28 Jul, 2023
Updated on: 28 Jul, 2023

From: John Ferns

In response to: Only Proactive Enforcement Action Will Reduce Fly-tipping

Sadly this ‘throw away culture’, at the lower end of the scale to wilful fly-tipping at the other, is now endemic in our society. There needs to be a firm policy to identify and sanction the culprits, and things won’t change unless it is enforced.

In olden times miscreants suffered public humiliation by being put in the stocks. However, we now live in more enlightened times, when up until perhaps 30 years ago, the local press always attended and reported on local magistrate’s courts, which had the same effect.

Living in Ash, I raised the issue immediately I read it in The Dragon, with the chairman of the Amenities, Finance and Administration Committee of Ash Parish Council, which was due to meet 36 hours later on July 24.

It was to be a virtual meeting, but outsiders were given the web link. There was a slot for public speaking on the agenda, but I had another commitment.

I wrote: “This would seem to be an Ash Parish problem, which looks to be costing GBC monies they can ill afford, given the financial problems facing the council. Polite requests by parish authorities to miscreants to desist are unlikely to work.

“May I suggest that the parish council ‘invests’ in a CCTV surveillance camera? This should be no problem as Ash Parish is ‘rich’, according to their annual return of March 31, 2023, where its working reserve is reported as standing at £1.3 million.”

The chairman replied immediately, saying he would come back to me ASAP. I am still waiting his response, but I appreciate he is a busy person, with the full council meeting that night and a prominent role to play in Thursday’s Corporate Governance and Standards Committee at the borough council. But I will look forward to what he has to say.

Editor’s comment: The Guildford Dragon does not, unfortunately, in common with most other local media, have the resources to regularly cover our law courts. We have lobbied the BBC to add court reporting to its valued Local Democracy Reporting Service. As the saying goes, “Justice has to be seen to be done” at the moment most of our justice is delivered, effectively, in camera and it does have consequences.

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