East Staffordshire Borough Council’s Enforcement Team have recently issued two fixed penalty notices for fly-tipping offences in the Borough.
The first offence concerned an East Staffordshire Borough Council Open Space Officer witnessing a male leave his car on Newton Park, Winshill and deposit a bread crate and a substantial amount of bread.
Enforcement Officers investigated and after identifying the individual concerned, a £400 fixed penalty notice was subsequently issued.
The second offence concerned six bags of household waste deposited under the A38 flyover on Horninglow Road, Burton on Trent. The fly-tipping contained evidence to suggest the identity of the offender who was interviewed under caution and admitted leaving the bags there. The offender was served with a £400 fixed penalty notice by the Officer.
East Staffordshire Borough Council would like to send a clear message to any would-be fly-tippers in the Borough that if evidence of their identity can be found, the Council will take action against them. The Council is deploying mobile CCTV cameras in a further effort to catch fly-tippers.
Cllr Bernard Peters, Cabinet Member for Communities and Housing Standards said: “This type of behaviour is unacceptable. We are committed to holding anyone found to be fly-tipping in the Borough to account and we send a clear message out that fly-tipping will not be tolerated.
Not only is fly tipping a criminal offence, but it is a blight on our communities and costs the tax payer thousands of pounds to remove and dispose of the waste.
If residents witness anyone fly-tipping, we would ask you to not touch the waste or confront the fly-tipper but please gather as much information as possible, including the registration numbers of any vehicles involved, preferably by photo, and report the matter to the Council to investigate.”
As part of their daily patrols, the Community and Civil Enforcement Team regularly engage and educate residents regarding the disposal of waste and consequences of fly-tipping, including door to door enquiries and distributing leaflets in different languages.
Fly-tipping is an offence under Section 33 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and is defined as being the illegal deposit of any waste onto land that does not have a licence to accept it.
The offence can consist of a mattress left outside a property, a bin bag full of household waste or large scale commercial waste deposited in a country lane.
Fly-tipping is a serious criminal offence for which offenders can be prosecuted. In the event of prosecution, the courts have various powers available to them to tackle fly-tipping, including imprisonment, unlimited fines and an order to deprive rights to a vehicle used to commit the offence.
The Council strongly urges any residents who witness fly-tipping to report the tipping offence by telephoning 01283 508306, emailing community.civil_enforcement@eaststaffsbc.gov.uk or via the online report form on the East Staffordshire Borough Council webpage.