Councils crackdown on fly-tippers

There was a 13.5 per cent reduction in the number of fly-tipping incidents reported by local authorities last year, according to official statistics from the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

There were 568,000 enforcement actions against fly-tippers by local authorities last year - a 5.8 per cent increase.

Figures also show a 9.8 per cent reduction in the amount local authorities had to spend on cleaning up mess left behind by fly-tippers at £41.3 million and a 5.6 per cent increase in the cost of carrying out enforcement actions against fly-tippers (£20.6 million).

Councillor David Parsons, chairman of the LGA's environment board, said: "Fly-tipping is a huge source of frustration for residents and businesses alike. Councils know how much people hate seeing this sort of vandalism on their doorsteps. Local authorities make it a priority to tackling the selfish minority who are prepared to blight the countryside or their own local area.

"People rely upon their local council to keep their neighbourhoods looking clean and tidy. These figures show that the huge amount of effort local authorities put into preventing and tackling fly-tipping is having a real impact.

"Fewer people are dumping waste, while councils' success rate at catching out those who do has gone up. At the same time, local authorities have been able to make less money go further by developing new and better ways of clearing up public land which has been turned into an eyesore by fly-tippers.

"There is simply no excuse for anyone to dump waste illegally. Chasing down the culprits and clearing up their mess costs taxpayers tens of millions of pounds every year. Through a combination of tougher enforcement, more visible deterrents and more co-ordination with the Environment Agency and the police, councils' success at tackling them is improving all the time."