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Fly-tipping costs Peterborough taxpayers over £500k in a year
Fly-tipping, such as this one in Storeys Bar Road, cost the taxpayer �500,000 a year. Picture: Rowland Hobson/Peterborough ET
MENACES who commit fly-tipping cost city taxpayers over £500,000 last year – but not a single conviction was brought against them.
The shocking statistics were unveiled after a Freedom of Informaiton request lifted the lid on the fly-tipping problem in the city.
The total cost of dealing with it was £511,165 of public money, with £107,691 being spent on 1,103 enforcement actions and £403,474 on clearing the mess.
Between April 2010 and March 2011, there were 7,608 instances of flytipping reported to Peterborough City Council – more than 20 cases every day.
However, there were zero successful prosecutions against people committing the crime.
Nationally there were 655,951 instances of fly-tipping, which resulted in 11,762 prosecutions. That means that across the United Kingdom, one out of every 55 instances of fly-tipping was prosecuted.
Council cabinet member for neighbourhoods, councillor Peter Hiller, conceded that more needs to be done to combat the fly-tipping menace.
He said: “The figures look poor compared to the national averages.
“We are determined to improve that and are putting a brand new regime in to catch fly-tippers.
“Our enforcement officers are very aware of the angst fly-tipping causes. It does not just affect businesses, but also residents and visitors to the city.
“I don’t think their individual performances need improving, but they do need more help.
“We have had great success with covert cameras in Norwood Lane which we could roll out.
“We would also like residents to be far more vigilant to report any fly-tipping they see.
“The other way to improve the situation would be getting information out there about proper disposal of waste in an environmentally-friendly way.”
Fly-tipping carries a maximum penalty of £50,000 and six months in prison.
The Freedom of Information request was submitted by the Countryside Alliance, whose chief executive Alice Barnard said: “Fly-tipping is a crime that perpetrators can get away with.
“We need a plan which ensures people who fly-tip are caught and punished and provides greater support to local authorities and landowners who bear the brunt of the cost of clearing it up.”
The council has had success after reducing the amount of fly-tipping in Norwood Lane, Paston, since installing covert cameras and the council is looking to use that experience to improve the situation elsewhere.
Peter Gell, the council’s strategic regulatory services manager, said: “We have seen real improvements in Norwood Road and are now considering different options which could be used to deal with other hotspots across the city.”
“Dumping rubbish is a serious offence and degrades the environment for all of us.
“People who do this impose a financial burden on local council taxpayers, firstly by not paying to dump the rubbish legitimately and secondly due to the cost of removing waste from public areas.
To report fly-tipping, call the council on 01733 747474.
Breakdown of fly-tipping figures
ZERO successful prosecutions were brought following the 7,608 reports of fly-tipping in the city last year.
The average for authorities in England and Wales saw one in 55 instances of fly-tipping successfully prosecuted.
Those authorities’ 11,762 prosecutions brought a total of £692,098 in fines - at an average of £58 per case.
If one in 55 Peterborough incidents of fly-tipping brought the same average fine, the city’s public purse would have been re-imbursed with more than £8,000 last year.
What do you think about the flytipping in Peterborough issue?
Comment below, email news@peterboroughtoday.co.uk telephone Newsdesk 01733 588719 (office hours), on Twitter - @peterboroughet or use our Have Your Say form
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Comments
There are 19 comments to this article
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The Admiral
Monday, September 5, 2011 at 06:12 PMit says "there were zero successful prosecutions against people committing the crime" .....I thought they prosecuted people for the mess at Norwood as reported in the great ET ? ? ...how much is the covert cctv costing ? Can we afford it ?? As to travellers leaving rubbish, they should not be allowed to leave a site until it is clean. If they do then they drive nice new cars and vans with registrations, impound the vehicles for unpaid fines until they sort it. ....If I was to start doing it the council would soon work out it was me and have up in court. must be white male of a certain age and easy to get at ...
The Admiral
Monday, September 5, 2011 at 06:03 PMcat @ 17 - so next time I see a piece of litter in your garden\flower bed I should prosecute you - sounds like fun to me. get your gold card out ready !!
Holly GoIightly
Sunday, September 4, 2011 at 07:47 PMIt should be illegal to own land which has rubbish stored on it without a license. Therefore it would be the land-owner who is at fault if his land is used for dumping. Owners must be more responsible. Lets have most fences, armed guards and people shot for dumping rubbish, such as in the photo.
BarneyRubbled
Saturday, September 3, 2011 at 08:38 PMThanks Barny , thats what i thought but did not want to make an **se of myself in case i had got my facts wrong. Unlike someone who has deafened me with their silence who was supremely confident of their facts @7. Ah well !!! ho-hum.
Barny
Saturday, September 3, 2011 at 07:20 PMThe bulky collection charges were introduced in Apr 2010 by PCC. Enterprise partnership did not start until April 20111
J J Carter
Saturday, September 3, 2011 at 09:51 AMWhen Bretton Park was invaded by 'travellers' this summer, I reported the fly-tipping. I guess it was too difficult to figure out that the heaps of rubbish appearing had something to do with the vans illegally parked up 10yds away.
Kermit
Saturday, September 3, 2011 at 09:02 AM@6 - travellers and Pleasure Fair Meadow car park: Is David Denson not bright enough to charge these people a £1000 BondDeposit before using the car park, refundable only once they have satisfactorily cleared up after themselves? Apparantly not!
BarneyRubbled
Friday, September 2, 2011 at 11:54 PMlilmiss@7. I read your comment and had a sneaking suspicion that all was not well with it .Now i am not saying it is wrong but i cannot find any information to support what you say , only the contrary . When you say it was not PCC. who introduced the charges and it was Enterprise, can you direct me to somewhere it confirms it ? I can only find previous stories from the E.T. and a direct gov website that says it was PCC. I know i am naive concerning council matters but i would be gratefull if you could point me in the right direction .
Sofedup
Friday, September 2, 2011 at 10:39 PMSurely it is time for PCC to consider the cost of dealing with the mess, against the income gained for providing permits for taking such commercial rubbish (as that is mostly what it is) to the city dump. If it makes sense to provide free access to the dump, then just do it! As taxpayers we are paying anyway! and PCC then save a system and the costs of running that system!
J J Carter
Friday, September 2, 2011 at 09:24 PMP.S. While nobody has actually been prosecuted, I expect PCC have ample PowerPoints explaining how they will be proactive, going-forward, with lessons-learned, while respecting diversity to have a plan for plan in place quite soon.
J J Carter
Friday, September 2, 2011 at 09:21 PMWhy are tax-payers paying the massive salaries and index-linked pensions of these (NON)enforcement staff in PCC? Nice 'work' if you can get it! Pottyborough at it's best!
henry
Friday, September 2, 2011 at 09:20 PMIt's not only fly tipping that cost the tax payer money, it's the attitude of the PCC regarding litter and cleaning - they couldn't care less, (half adozen prosecution for litter on the Cathedral Square.) other wise they would have tried much harder about this issue before now. They really know how to waste money.
lilmiss
Friday, September 2, 2011 at 07:45 PM@ aressee I think you should get your information right before dissing people first: the minimum amount for a bulky collection £23.50 more dependant on articles being collected and it was Enterprise NOT PCC that introduced the charges when they took over the refuge collection. Its people like you with incorrect information that makes the jobs of these "jobsworth" so much harder. Next time get your facts right.
rogerandrew
Friday, September 2, 2011 at 07:41 PMI complained about travellers leaving behind rubbish that cost us tax payers over £1000 to clean up. this was jan 2010.at Pleasure Fair Meadow car park..I asked PCC why the known culprits were not fined, the reply from David Denson,PCC, was as follows "Due to the nomadic lifestyle led by travellers it is not practical to attempt to summons them for recovery of costs"..
Two slips and a gully.
Friday, September 2, 2011 at 03:39 PMCllr Hiller always makes me smile when quoted, its not against the country average that the figures looks poor, Zero is Zero against any set of figures! Bluster, words and never any measure on anything being done. "Enforcement officers" are on the payrole, surely that's against the trades description act when out of 7608 reported instances, not 1 ended up with a conviction. What until next year when they finally have a conviction, Cllr Hiller will be championing the improved 100% conviction rate!!!
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