Don’t penalise landowners, says CLA at Lincolnshire show

Landowners who have tried to keep fly-tippers out should not be penalised by costly clear up bills – that's the message the CLA will be promoting at the Lincolnshire Show.

The rural economy experts say that the Government's decision to block an attempt to shift the cost and responsibility for clearing up waste from private landowners to either the Environment Agency or local authorities will create more misery and mess in the countryside.

A Ten Minute Rule Bill would have brought about a fundamental and much needed change in the law.

Under the Environmental Protection Act (1990) waste dumped on public land is removed by the local authority or the Environment Agency (EA), but there is no protection for private landowners. Instead, landowners who suffer from fly-tipping are threatened with prosecution unless they pay for the rubbish to be removed.

The amendment would have ensured that, where a landowner could prove he had taken all possible action to prevent waste being dumped, the clean-up cost would have been the responsibility of the EA or the local authority.

Helen Woolley, CLA East Midlands director, described the government's decision as a "Missed opportunity to take positive action to tackle an increasingly difficult and worrying problem."

She continued; "Our Lincolnshire members tell us fly-tipping is becoming more and more of a problem. They are sick of spending time and cash cleaning up and they are offended by the lack of respect given to the countryside they own and manage.

"The Government's own figures estimate that private landowners are currently footing a £50 million a year bill for clearing up refuse which is illegally dumped on their land."

The CLA has been campaigning for a change in the law so that the burden of cost would not be left on the doorstep of private landowners. The problems go beyond the direct costs and relate to pollution, tourism, health and safety and risks to livestock.

CLA experts helped Bernard Jenkins MP draw up the Bill which would have placed a legal responsibility on local authorities to investigate all complaints of fly-tipping.

Mr Jenkins and the CLA will campaign on.