Local Authorities Want Tougher Fines For Fly-tippers

Published on: 12 Aug, 2021
Updated on: 14 Aug, 2021

Fly-tipped rubbish in Wood Street Village 2017

158 local authorities including the 11 borough and district councils represented by Surrey Environmental Partnership on waste management, want tougher sanctions against fly-tippers “to reduce the menace of fly-tipping” and the “significant costs and damage to the environment”.

In a joint letter to the Sentencing Council, they say the current sentencing guidelines do not act as a “sufficient deterrent” for the severity of the offence or the cost to the public.

They say: “…media and public reaction to this has seriously questioned the existing level of deterrence. It seems that fly-tipping has become a far more attractive option for criminals.”

The councils are calling for:

• court fines to be more than Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) fines saying the average court fine in 2020 -2021 in Hertfordshire was £297 compared to a FPN of £400. They say this is encouraging offenders to go to court rather than accept a FPN putting extra pressure on the over-stretched court system.
• fines to include costs to the public and the police in bringing fly-tippers to court and the costs of clean-up of fly-tipping on private land and restoration of that land.
• courts to be tougher checking means declarations by offenders saying there is evidence of “some defendants declaring low official income levels but often benefitting from large undeclared sums” from fly-tipping.
• more use of community-based sentences and suspended prison sentences with second offences resulting in a custodial sentence.

Chairman of SEP, Councillor Neil Dallen, said: “Without an effective deterrent, the number of fly-tips will continue to go up, creating a massive burden on our resources and causing a blight on our countryside. ”

See also Waste Report Reveals A Third Of Surreys Waste Incinerated With CO2 Emissions Uncaptured and GBC Dramatic Early Morning Operation At Stoney Castle To Stop Illegal Dumping.

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