Charity to offer financial reward for reporting Peterborough fly-tippers

Mohammed Saeed, vice chair of Community First, said the charity will hand over £500 to anyone who provides the name of a fly-tipper in Peterborough, as well as evidence which results in them being prosecuted or fined.

Community First is a grassroots organisation working to improve the lives of people in the Millfield and New England area, a part of the city which Mr Saeed said is “heavily impacted by fly-tipping”.

Both places are part of the Operation CAN-do area which was set up in 2011 to address issues of crime, poverty and fly-tipping, but Mr Saeed said the latter remains a blight on the community, something which he hopes Community First can help address.

He told the Peterborough Telegraph: “The plan is - and it is something the city council could do easily, but we will show them the way - is to put up a fund.

“Any person that reports a fly-tipper and makes a statement to the city council and shows evidence, if that person gets fined we will give the person who caught the fly-tipper a £500 reward.”

Mr Saeed said once the scheme launches in the near future, areas shown to be hotspots for reported fly-tipping on the FixMyStreet website will be targeted, with people encouraged to use cameras on their phones to snap the criminals in action.

He added: “Somebody has got to see something. We would encourage them to report a number plate and evidence of the fly-tipping. They have an incentive and the council has someone willing to give evidence and a statement.

“There have been calls by MPs and others for larger fines and magistrates can fine them up to £50,000, but it doesn’t happen. The council is letting people off with just a couple hundred quid fine.

“We’ve got £500 sitting in reserve. Let’s find hotspots and encourage the community to report it. There’s an incentive to report it and it means a cleaner street for everybody.

“The council charges peanuts to collect items (through its bulky waste collection service). It’s ridiculous that people dump rubbish on the streets.”

In October, MP for Peterborough Paul Bristow called for tougher penalties for fly-tippers in a Parliamentary debate, telling the Commons: “Fly-tipping is an issue that blights too many of our communities.”

Currently, fly-tippers can be fined up to £400, although if they are taken through court magistrates have the powers to fine them up to £50,000 and imprison them for up to a year.

The offence can also attract an unlimited fine and up to five years in prison if an offender is convicted in a crown court.

The number of fly-tipping fines issued in Peterborough this year is 88, according to Peterborough City Council.

A spokesperson for the authority said: “Fl-tipping is a scourge on society and negatively impacts the wellbeing of those in neighbourhoods as well as being a fire and environmental risk.

“If you have information about fly-tipping it is morally the right thing to do to report this so that we can investigate and bring about a prosecution. Fl-tipping costs the council £225,787 a year which is taxpayer’s money.

“We must all do our bit to minimise fly-tipping in our areas by disposing of our waste in safe and correct ways.

“You can report an incident of fly-tipping to us online at https://www.peterborough.gov.uk/residents/saferpeterborough/fly-tipping-and-littering or by phone on 01733 747474.”