Local authorities urged to take more action on fly-tipping
Minister for waste, Joan Ruddock has today urged local authorities to bring themselves up to the level of the best in tackling fly-tipping as new figures were published.
The Flycapture results for April 2006 to March 2007, show more fly-tipping incidents are being reported and more action is being taken to tackle them. Flycapture is the national database of fly-tipping incidents and enforcement action that was set up by Defra, the Environment Agency and the Local Government Association to record the incidents and cost of illegally dumped waste dealt with by local authorities.
But Ms Ruddock stressed that, while this demonstrated increased vigilance, this was only the first stage in tackling the issue.
The results, covering 354 English authorities, show an increase in incidents over the past year. However, nearly half of all cases reported came from Liverpool City Council.
Key results include:
- Local authorities in England reported that they had dealt with more than 2.6 million incidents of fly-tipping – up five per cent on 2005-06. Liverpool City Council reported 1,289,410 incidents.
- Enforcement action taken by local authorities, excluding Liverpool City Council, increased by 46 per cent to 357,829 cases. The figure for all authorities, including Liverpool City Council, was 16 per cent.
- Half of all fly-tips recorded involved single black bags and it is estimated that the majority of these occurred in back alleys and involved waste placed out for collection incorrectly, primarily in Liverpool. However, when Liverpool City Council is excluded, 48 per cent of all recorded fly-tips occurred on the highway and 53 per cent of fly-tips were of a car boot or small van load in size.
- 77 per cent of fly-tips involved household waste - a 5.4 per cent increase on 2005-06. Once Liverpool City Council is excluded, 56 per cent of all fly-tips involve household waste - a 10 per cent increase on 2005-06.
Further information
Page published: 9 October 2007