The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) has said that the increasing incidences of fly-tipping on “private rural land” were not included in the annual statistics for fly-tipping, which went live on the UK government’s website today (Tuesday, January 31).
The association said it was happy with the overall reduction in fly-tipping cases – a 4% decrease in cases dealt with by local authorities in England from 2021 – but said that the figures fail to fully convey the private and rural aspects of the crime.
Mark Tufnell, CLA president, said: “Two thirds of all farmers and landowners have at some stage been a victim.
“But hundreds of thousands of offences on private land are going unrecorded, as farmers often have so little faith in the ability of the police or council to deal with fly-tipping that they simply bear the cost of removing rubbish themselves.
“It’s not just the odd piece of litter blotting the landscape, but tonnes of household and commercial waste which can often be hazardous – even including asbestos and chemicals – risking the safety of people and animals. This often requires costly expert treatment to remove,” he said.
Tufnell called on ministers to look “urgently” at increasing the penalaties for convicted fly-tippers and £properly resource rural police forces” to ensure they are held to account.
“Without more progress, landowners, not the criminals, will continue to pay the price,” he said.
“The maximum fine for fly-tipping is £50,000 or 12 months in prison, but this is rarely enforced.
“This means landowners pay on average £1,000 to remove the waste, but in some cases have paid up to £100,000 to clear up other people’s mess, or risk facing prosecution themselves.
“The UK government’s promises to clamp down on fly-tipping on private land are yet to yield serious results. It seems that criminals simply do not fear prosecution.”
Fly-tipping in the UK
The government’s fly-tipping statistics for the 2021/2022 year show that fly-tips involving household waste have fallen from 65% to 61%
The total incidents involving household waste were 671,000 in 2021/2022, a decrease of 9% from 740,000 incidents in 2020/2021.
The most common location for fly-tipping incidents, according to the new statistics, was on highways.
They accounted for over two-fifths (43%) of total incidents in 2021/2022. This figure is the same as 2020/2021 and 2019/2020.
In 2021/2022, the number of highway incidents was 464,000, which was a decrease of 5% from 486,000 in 2020/2021.
The most common size category for incidents was equivalent to a ‘small van load’ (32%) followed by the equivalent of a ‘car boot or less’ (26%).
