Fly-tipping ‘more than halved’ at notorious Peterborough grotspot, but council performance challenged

Despite previous action plans which included the use of security guards and cameras, the site in Paston Ridings has plagued officials for years, and cost the city a huge amount in cleaning costs.

But the installation of a concrete wall along the side of the road appears to have finally brought dividends, even if it has meant less space for motorists.

Peterborough City Council leader Cllr John Holdich said: “We have more than halved the problem. There’s still a bit of an issue at the entrance, but we will address that shortly.

“There is evidence some of it’s being tipped elsewhere, but we have a pretty good idea who is doing that, so it’s just a matter of catching them.”

The council does not have exact figures for how much money is now being saved, but it is thought to be significant with teams previously taking longer than a day to clear all of the dumped rubbish.

Meanwhile, it has been revealed that fly-tipping on council land in Peterborough has doubled in the last five years, with nearly seven thousand incidents last year alone, according to government figures.

The figures were highlighted by the Peterborough Labour Party, which claimed Labour-run Cambridge City Council “takes much stronger enforcement action and has less fly-tipping”.

In the last five years Cambridge has issued £5,242 in fines for fly-tipping, compared to £321 in Peterborough.

Labour’s Parliamentary Candidate for Peterborough Lisa Forbes said: “These figures are no surprise to me as I have seen first-hand just how bad fly-tipping has become in our city. I hear every day from residents who are fed up of the council’s inaction.

“The fact that incidents have doubled whilst action taken by the council has fallen is simply appalling.”

A city council spokesman said fly-tipping is more prevalent in rural locations like Peterborough than places such as Cambridge which is “predominantly city-centre based”.

He added: “These isolated rural areas which form part of our boundary are often targeted at night, making it difficult to obtain necessary evidence for prosecutions. We will continue to take perpetrators to court where we have enough evidence to do so.”

The council recently opened a new Household Recycling Centre in Fengate.

Environment cabinet member Cllr Marco Cereste said the council takes fly-tipping “very seriously” and has a cross-party working group looking at solutions to the problem.