INCREASED SANCTIONS TO HELP TACKLE FLY-TIPPING

The Prime Minister has announced the police will now have the power to give tougher penalties when they are dealing with fly-tipping offences.
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The announcement comes after Dorset’s Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), David Sidwick joined with his counterparts for Avon and Somerset, Devon and Cornwall, Gloucestershire, and Wiltshire to pen a letter to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs calling for tougher sanctions to tackle the 'growing menace' of fly-tipping. This was picked up by the National Rural Crime Network and other PCCs who supported the initiative.

The five PCCs lobbied the government to do more to deter fly-tipping which has become the anti-social behaviour of both urban areas and the countryside. The group said that 'greater coordination' and 'tougher penalties' are needed in order to meet the Government target of eradicating waste crime by 2043 - stating that it's time 'criminals pay for fly-tipping, not taxpayers'.

Now, the government has announced they are raising the minimum fine for the offence from £400 up to £1000. The government said that the increase in fines will give the enforcement agencies involved the tools they need to act.

The changes will also see additional support given to local authorities to enable them to hand out more fines to ‘disrespectful offenders’, a league table for local authorities based on fly-tipping performance and a change in the law removing the need to have the regulator present when a police officer seizes a vehicle unlawfully carrying waste.