Fly-tipping figures ‘misleading’, says NFU
Fly-tipping incidences on public land in England have fallen by 9% this year, according to official figures.
DEFRA said local authorities dealt with more than 744,000 incidents of fly-tipping in 2011-12, compared with nearly 820,000 in 2010-11.
The estimated cost to local authorities of clearing up was £37.4m – about a 9% drop. There were nearly 2,800 prosecutions, of which 99.6% resulted in a conviction.
However, the NFU said the figures were misleading as they did not include cases on privately-owned land that are dealt with by farmers and landowners.
The latest NFU research on fly-tipping on private property shows a 64% increase over the same period.
“It is extremely disappointing that fly-tipping on private land remains a significant problem for farmers,” said NFU environment adviser Nicola Dunn.
“Until government acknowledges that action is needed to deal with the problem on all land, we don’t believe the problem will be effectively resolved.
“Farmers are frustrated when they, the victims of a crime, are left to clear up dumped waste and pay the local authority to dispose of it. That’s just not right.”
The Farming Regulation Task Force recommended that farmers should be able to dispose of fly-tipped waste free of charge at local authority sites.
But DEFRA’s proposed solutions contained in its Fly-tipping Partnership Framework fell short of the recommendations and left the decision on how they would tackle the problem of fly-tipping in their area up to local authorities.
Fly-tipping has soared 45% in the last year
Fly-tipping on the rise in Wales
Philip Case on G+