Shocking 5,000 fly-tipping incidents across Shropshire in a year
Thousands of pounds was spent by councils having to deal with more than 5,000 fly-tipping incidents across Shropshire last year, figures have revealed.
Across the county there were a total of 5,385 incidents of fly-tipping in the 12 months up to March 2022.
The area covered by Telford & Wrekin Council was the site for the vast majority, 4,337 – although that number was significantly down on the previous year, when there were 5,380 incidents.
Shropshire Council had far fewer incidents, 1,048 – but the data shows that the offences are on the rise, up from 1,004 the year before.
Dealing with large-scale fly tipping incidents cost Telford & Wrekin Council £70,480 – with the authority also issuing 221 fixed penalty notices last year, up from 122 in 2020-21.
For Shropshire the cost for dealing with large incidents was just £350, according to the data.
Telford & Wrekin Council has been leading a significant effort to tackle the issue and only this month confirmed it would be increasing the cost of early repayment fixed penalty notices from £200 to £350.
Shropshire Council has also been operating a dedicated fly-tipping team, tasked with responding to reports and dealing with cases yet to be reported.
In Shropshire the majority of fly-tipping was discovered on highways – 91 per cent. Of that the largest proportion was household waste at 35 per cent, followed by household black bin bags, 31 per cent.
For Telford & Wrekin a significant amount of fly-tipping was discovered on council land – 82 per cent, and on footpaths and bridleways – 12 per cent.
Of the discarded waste, the largest proportion was household waste, at 56 per cent, followed by household black bin bags – 13 per cent.
Across England, 1.09 million fly-tipping incidents were recorded in 2021-22 – a decrease of four per cent from the 1.14 million reported in 2020-21. The cost of clearance to local authorities was £10.7 million last year.
Allison Ogden-Newton, chief executive of Keep Britain Tidy, said: “A million plus fly-tipping incidents is a tragedy for the environment and communities and illustrates just how little people understand about the impact their unwanted ‘stuff’ can have."
Ms Ogden-Newton added there must be a concerted effort to educate the public about their role in solving the problem.
“We need immediate and tough enforcement that targets the rogue traders who are making a fortune by breaking the law, raking in the cash and wrecking our environment," she added.
The Defra figures show about 91,000 fixed penalty notices were issued across England in 2021-22, an increase of 58 per cent from 2020-21.
And the number of court fines nearly tripled from just 621 in 2021-21 to 1,798 last year.
The value of all fines was £840,000 in 2021-22, more than doubling the £330,000 from the year before.
David Renard, environment spokesperson for the Local Government Association, said fly-tipping is not just an eyesore for residents, but a serious environmental and public health risk.
He added: “Councils are working tirelessly to counter the thousands of incidents every year and are determined to crack down on the problem, so it is good to see that the number of enforcement actions has increased.
“However, penalties handed down from prosecution fail to match the severity of the offence committed. We continue to urge the Government to review sentencing guidelines for fly-tipping so that offenders are given bigger fines for more serious offences to act as a deterrent."
