Buckinghamshire Council is
deploying innovative, new measures in the battle to stop fly-tipping in the
county. Intelligent cameras have been installed in hot spot areas in the south
of the county. In addition, unofficial layby areas are being blocked and turned
into grassy banks in another tactic to combat the criminals who dump waste
illegally.
The council has taken a
zero-tolerance approach to fly-tipping for over a decade and has successfully
prosecuted hundreds of offenders. It costs the council over £600k each year to
clear up rubbish that has been illegally dumped on public land – money that
could be spent on providing other much needed services to the county’s
residents.
Using £50k of funding from
DEFRA (Dept for Environment, Farming & Rural Affairs), the new cameras can
identify when a vehicle has left rubbish behind and in real time, will provide
a video report of the incident to enforcement officers, including the
registration of the vehicle, making it easier to identify and prosecute
fly-tippers.
In a move to reduce the places
where fly-tippers can dump, the council has carried out work to build up grass
banks at several locations. The work has been carried out by re-using 400
tonnes of inert (tested) soil that was illegally dumped previously elsewhere in
Bucks.
Gareth Williams, Cabinet Member
for Climate Change and Environment said:
“We want to make it clear to
all would-be criminals, we won’t tolerate fly-tipping in Bucks and we will
continue to use all available means to make sure anyone who does carry out this
atrocious crime will be caught and prosecuted. These new intelligent cameras
will make it much easier to prosecute fly-tippers and allow for quicker
clean-up.
“My message to residents is; if
you’re having rubbish removed, please
don’t pay cash. Use a company that has a Waste
Carrier Licence, and ask for a record of who you’ve paid. By having an
electronic method of payment, you can help us track down and prosecute the
fly-tipper.”
When the enforcement team
investigates a fly-tipping incident and finds evidence that leads to a
householder, they will visit them and ask for evidence that they’ve taken
reasonable steps to identify the person they hired to remove their rubbish and
to ensure that it would be disposed of properly.
If the householder can provide
evidence of the identity of the person who took their rubbish away such as
details of a bank card payment, the investigation can move to focus on the
fly-tipper. However, if the householder has paid an unidentified individual
cash in hand to remove rubbish, they may be issued with a £400 fixed penalty
notice for failing in their ‘duty of care’. If the incident is serious, this
might be escalated to a court summons that could result in a criminal
conviction and a hefty fine.
If you’re unsure of how to make
sure you’re doing the right thing when someone is taking away your rubbish, our
S.C.R.A.P.
fly-tipping campaign code is a useful tool.