Getting away scot-free: Nearly 20,000 fly-tipping incidents - but councils only issue 124 fines

Incidents of illegal dumping has increased significantly in the last year, partly driven by the closure of official tips during periods of lockdown.

But new statistics, which largely pre-date Covid, show how difficult it is for councils to trace those responsible or to bring them to book in the courts.

Fines were handed out in less than one per cent of cases for all councils in the Black Country, Staffordshire and Shropshire in 2019/20, according to the figures - apart from Wolverhampton, where the figure was two per cent.

Council leaders today said they are committed to tackling fly-tippers but figures show most offenders got away with it in the 12 months to April 2020.

Bosses say a lack of evidence often means there is nothing they can do.

Across the wider West Midlands over the year-long period there were a total of 19,517 incidents.

But only 124 fines were issued. And 50 of those were in Wolverhampton alone.

Cannock Chase Council only gave out two fines, Stafford four, South Staffordshire five and Dudley six. Sandwell Council gave out 20 and in Walsall there were 24 fines for fly-tipping and another 10 for littering. Walsall Council recently revealed it had spent more than £250,000 clearing up fly-tipping between April 2020 and February of this year.

An increasing problem

Fridges, sofas, mattresses, bags of rubbish and even children's toys; they are just some of the countless household items which have been left dumped at the side of main roads, along country lanes or at beauty spots in recent months across the region.

And the fly-tipping scourge has become an increasing problem during the pandemic as, with tips shut during lockdown, tonnes of rubbish was instead dumped in our towns, cities and countryside.

The lockdown itself has played a part as council officials say many people choosing to do home DIY led to soaring incidents of cabinets, furniture and other household appliances being dumped.

These latest figures go up to April 2020, when the pandemic was just beginning in the UK, so it is possible the most recent data could be much worse.

They reveal there were 19,517 cases across the Black Country, Staffordshire and Shropshire in the 12-month period but only 124 fines, meaning people were punished in less than one per cent of cases.

Sandwell had the highest fly-tipping incidents for the 12-month period with 5,972, followed by Walsall and Telford and Wrekin with 3,441 and 3,330 respectively.

In Wolverhampton there were 2,463 incidents, South Staffordshire 1,662 and Dudley 1,224. There were 888 in the Shropshire Council area, 427 in Stafford and 110 in Cannock Chase.

Council chiefs insist they will not hesitate to take strong action against those who are caught fly-tipping but also admit in many cases there is nothing they can do.

In the majority of cases, they rely on the public coming forward to report fly-tipping and they have again been encouraged to do so after the councils approached with these figures by the Express & Star.

CCTV has also been put up at beauty spots and areas it is feared could be targeted, resulting in some successful prosecutions but cameras cannot cover every part of our vast region, or even close to it.

Walsall Council leader Mike Bird said cleaning up fly-tipping costs the authority around £1 million a year and believes tougher sentences are needed to act as a deterrent.

Wolverhampton Council is launching a new 'Pesky Blighters' campaign this summer, as part of its 'Shop a Tipper' project, in which residents were actively encouraged to report their neighbours or anyone seen fly-tipping.

A mountain of rubbish was left strewn in woodland off New Road in Dudley in March, while a sofa was among waste dumped at Murdoch Road in Bilston the same month.

A Wolverhampton Council spokesman said: “We are always looking at ways to deter and capture evidence of those responsible for fly tipping. And where we have evidence, we will take formal legal proceedings.

“It’s important to understand that strong compelling evidence is needed to identify the person(s) responsible for the offence in order to proceed legally. As an authority we take the issue of fly tipping very seriously and understand how it affects people, communities and the environment."

A Walsall Council spokesman said: "The disparity between offences recorded and fixed penalty notice/enforcement outcomes is due to the vast majority of reports being made after the event - with no evidence to follow up."

Sandwell deputy council leader Councillor Maria Crompton said: “Fly-tipping is a disgrace and we are appalled that people irresponsibly dump rubbish like this without any thought for the environment and the local community.

“The vast majority of fly-tipping incidents do not provide any evidence and, in the small minority where there is evidence, this is followed up by our environmental protection officers who will investigate and can issue £400 fines.

“We also deploy mobile CCTV cameras to monitor fly-tipping ‘hot spots’ and they also act as a deterrent.

“I would appeal to everyone to be our ‘eyes and ears’ in the community as we really need evidence of who’s dumping rubbish at what time, what vehicles they are using and any other useful information."

Councillor Karen Shakespeare, cabinet member elect for public realm at Dudley Council, said: “Those who fly-tip and drop litter are not only breaking the law, they are also leaving hard-working taxpayers out of pocket.

Blight

“We rely on people reporting details of incidents so that we can action against those who selfishly blight our local environment and we have recently invested £1.7m into our CCTV, which is helping us to take action."

Stafford Borough Council spokesman Will Conaghan said: “In the last few weeks we have issued four people with fines totalling nearly £1,000 and started prosecution proceedings for separate incidents relating to fly-tipping.

"We have seen fly-tipping increase during the periods of lockdown with many of the incidents attributed to home DIY.

"But we do need the public’s help if we are to catch those who illegally dump rubbish in our borough because, without the information and evidence, we are unable to trace offenders."

A Cannock Chase Council spokeswoman said: "Cannock Chase Council has invested heavily in tackling fly tipping, following the significant increase in incidents over the lockdown period and adopts a zero tolerance approach to this issue.

"The council has deployed mobile CCTV in hotspot areas, accompanied by high visibility signage to act as both a deterrent and to provide clear evidence if offences should be committed."

Councillor Richard Overton, cabinet member for enforcement at Telford and Wrekin Council, said: “In all its enforcement, Telford & Wrekin Council adopts an ‘education first, enforcement later’ approach resorting to fining offenders who, despite our efforts, continue to commit environmental crime.

"Tackling fly-tipping has long been our priority and we are developing a new strategy to bring down the number of cases."

The figures were released by onlinemortgageadvisor.com, which looked at Government data for fly-tipping.