War on fly-tippers continues through Covid

Figures revealed that between March 23 and October 31 this year showed that Walsall Council officers were called to deal with a total of 2,228 reports of fly-tipping in various locations across the borough.

The authority said that dealing with all these crimes and clearing up the mess left behind had cost the public purse £187,429.

While there were 147 less cases compared with the same period in 2019, it cost the council £52,317 more in deploying resources in 2020 to deal with the problems.

The statistics show a high number of fly-tipping incidents started in the summer 364 reported in June. July saw the highest number of crimes committed for the year with 374 reports to the authority.

Last year, fed-up council bosses vowed to get tougher and deal with the scourge of fly-tipping and other environmental crimes.

Initiatives include raising fines to the highest possible, seizing vehicles proved to be involved in incidents, covert CCTV cameras in known hot-spots and offering rewards.

In 2019, a dedicated team of three community protection officers was formed who concentrate on fly-tipping and work with the authority’s Clean and Green services to tackle the problem.

Between March 23 and October 31, a total of 23 fixed penalty notices (FPN) were slapped on offenders and, so far, 21 have paid a total of £6,220 to the council.

In the whole of 2020, 43 FPNs have been issued with 33 paying a total of £11,040. Further legal action will be taken against those who haven’t paid.

Officers also seized two vehicles – one in September and another in November – which were proved to be involved in offences.

A Walsall Council spokeswoman also said two cases are due to be heard in magistrates court imminently following successful prosecutions in the last 18 months.

In January this year, Andrew Aulton, of Stafford Road, Cannock, was hit with fines and costs totalling £4,632.81 following a case at Wolverhampton Magistrates’ Court.

Aulton was caught on hidden camera dumping rubbish on Norton Road on two different occasions in October and November 2018. He failed to attend court and the case was heard and decided in his absence.

Last year, the authority successfully prosecuted 27-year-old roofer Aaron Elvis Higgins, of Masefield Road, Blakenall, for dumping waste in Goscote Lodge Crescent.

He pleaded guilty to three separate offences of fly-tipping at Wolverhampton Magistrates’ Court on May 2 and ordered to pay £3,530 in costs and fines.

Councillor Garry Perry portfolio holder for community protection at Walsall Council said: “Fly-tipping is an absolute scourge on the borough and we have a zero tolerance approach to those who choose to illegally dump waste in Walsall rather than dispose of it appropriately like everyone else.

“As a community we’re sick of it, but we’re fighting back and our continued focus and energy in this area is reaping rewards.

“Cleaning up can be an enormous and expensive job, and our crews work hard to clear the sometimes masses of rubbish from highways and greenspaces, but that is just the start.

“Investigation and enforcement takes painstaking work but our dedicated fly-tipping officers in the community protection team are unrelenting.

“The council has issued more than 40 fixed penalty notices for fly-tipping this year and we’ve made it clear during the pandemic that offenders shouldn’t think for a moment that we are less likely to pursue them or that the chances of them getting caught are reduced because of Covid-19.

“As well as CCTV and fly-tippers’ own brashness in leaving identifying material in dumped rubbish working in our favour, residents are taking a stand and reporting what they see.

“We offer a £500 reward via Walsall’s Most Wanted for fly-tipping information which leads to successful enforcement action, so fly-tippers should be warned that there are eyes everywhere.

“We are using the full range of powers available to us under the Environmental Protection Act to investigate and prosecute. This includes technology to carry out video interviews with suspected offenders and seizing vehicles involved in fly-tipping offences.

“We have seized two vehicles this year—this certainly gets offenders’ attention and we will continue to make full use of our powers to do so.

“This effort is paying off, would-be offenders are starting to think twice. We’re seeing fewer incidents of fly-tipping which frees up officers’ time to put even more focus on cases—more offenders will be caught.

“We are all enjoying the benefits of less rubbish and waste in our beautiful parks. We have a flourishing volunteering community in Walsall including friends of the parks and local nature reserves groups and litter-picking volunteers.

“Even with lockdowns and restrictions this year, our volunteers have collected thousands and thousands of bags of litter from parks, open spaces and streets.

“There’s an immense amount of great work going on in our borough and I couldn’t be more proud of the efforts of the council and the community to rid Walsall of fly-tipping.”