Taxpayers had to cough up £58m to clear over one million incidents of fly-tipping in England during 2016-17.
It is the fourth year in a row that incidents increased, according to new government figures released today (19 October) by Defra.
About 56,000 fixed penalty notices were handed out by councils to people caught illegally dumping.
There were 1,002,000 cases of fly-tipping handled by councils in England between April 2016 and March 2017, equivalent to 114 every hour. This was 66,000 (7%) more than the year before.
Fly-tipping is a serious issue that many farmers deal with on a daily basis. It is seen as an inconvenience and costly, often running into thousands of pounds to rid their land of the rubbish dumped by criminals.
Rural organisation the CLA, which represents landowners, farmers and rural businesses, has called for vehicles to be seized as the default penalty for fly-tipping as part of tougher punishments for waste crime.
It comes as news that a recent CLA survey revealed that almost two thirds of farmers and landowners have been affected by fly-tipping and over half agree it is a significant issue in their area.
Most victims surveyed said they had been targeted on multiple occasions, around two to three times per month, and because private landowners are liable for the clean-up process they are spending on average £844 per incident.
Fly-tipping Tsar
The CLA also recommends enforcing fines for home and business owners whose waste is found in fly-tipped locations and appointing a ‘Fly-Tipping Tsar’ to co-ordinate with national agencies on the scale of this organised crime.
CLA President Ross Murray said: “Fly-tipping is just getting worse and worse. It is a national disgrace. Prosecutions for this crime are ludicrously low, and have decreased by a further 25%.
“It is high time that Government took a much more active role in tackling this blight on the countryside. Today’s shocking figures don’t even include rubbish fly-tipped on private land, which landowners clear up as local authorities only clear from public land.
“Greater penalties should be imposed and enforced including seizing fly-tippers’ vehicles, and victims should be better supported. We are calling for the appointment of a national fly-tipping Tsar to co-ordinate and oversee a more pro-active effort to get to grips with this national disgrace.”
