Worrying rise in fly tipping across the south coast

New government figures released this week have shown a worrying rise in fly tipping across the south coast.
Fly tipping is on the rise, according to new government figuresFly tipping is on the rise, according to new government figures
Fly tipping is on the rise, according to new government figures

And the County Land and Business Association (CLA) said the trend is causing growing concern among landowners and farmers.

According to the CLA, in Sussex there were more than 13,000 fly-tipping incidents in 2014/15 compared to 11,000 the previous year.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The total number of fly-tipping incidents in England has risen by almost 50,000 to 900,000 in the past year and over the last two years by almost 200,000.

It is not only the scale of fly tipping which is worrying landowners – the figures also show the amount of large scale fly tipping (involving transit vans or tipper lorries) also increased, although single bag tipping went down.

Landowners are liable for any waste that is fly-tipped on their land and can be prosecuted if they do not clear it away and the costs when large-scale fly-tipping is involved can be significant.

Earlier this year, the Control of Waste (Dealing with Seized Property) Regulations 2015 came into force in England and Wales.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

These changes broadened the range of offences for which a vehicle can be seized; removed the need for a warrant to be obtained before seizure; and set out the circumstances under which the enforcement authority may sell or destroy seized property.

According to the latest figures, during the last year, local authorities took action in around 515,000 cases, ranging from investigations and fixed penalty notices to seizure of vehicles.

Nationally, there were less than 2,000 prosecutions for fly-tipping in the past year.

CLA Director South East Robin Edwards said: “We have had reports from many of our members of large-scale fly-tipping taking place across our region, involving the dumping of large household items as well as endless bin bags of rubbish.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“The latest figures show that the cost to local authorities of fly-tipping was almost £50 million over the past year, but this excludes the considerable sums spent by landowners and farmers on clearing up waste left on their land.

“Fly-tipping is a major problem right across the south east and we will be continuing to call for offenders to be dealt with more robustly.”

Don’t miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live.

Here are four ways you can be sure you’ll be amongst the first to know what’s going on.

1) Make our website your homepage

2) Like our Facebook page

3) Follow us on Twitter

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

4) Register with us by clicking on ‘sign in’ (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here.

And do share with your family and friends - so they don’t miss out!

Always the first with your local news.

Be part of it.