Cannock council wants £400 fines for fly-tipping
Tougher penalties could be introduced for fly-tippers in Staffordshire – with a council planning to give them the maximum penalty they can by law.
It emerged that Cannock Chase District Council has spent just shy of £100,000 since 2012 on clearing and enforcing fly-tipping rules.
But just one person has been prosecuted for the offence in the last four years, when there have been 1,431 incidents.
The authority now wants to fine people £400 with a fixed penalty notice and the plans will be discussed at a council cabinet meeting on July 21.
Council bosses believe that the new penalty will be a cheaper way of dealing with fly-tipping than prosecuting people in court.
Council leader Councillor George Adamson said of the plans: "Taking someone to court for fly-tipping is a long, drawn-out procedure that is costly for us. This way, we can hit people with a fixed penalty straight away.
"It should act as a deterrent because people will know that rather than possibly going to court or possibly not, they will definitely be getting a hefty fine."
In 2012/13, the council received 318 reports of fly-tipping, increasing to 334 the following year then 416.
Councillor Adamson said the fly-tipping problem was the result of 'idle morons' who 'can't be bothered' to use the free tip service provided.
He said: "People who do this are just too lazy, they can't even be bothered to use a free tip, they are perfectly happy to leave their rubbish in the street.
"It is a shame that these idle morons continue to do what they want. Hopefully this new fixed penalty scheme will see a change in this attitude."
