English countryside is drowning in rubbish, Defra stats reveal

The English countryside is “drowning in rubbish”, with 1.5m incidents of fly-tipping reported in the past year (2023-24) – up 6% on previous figures – with large incidents costing local authorities £13.1m, latest Defra figures have revealed.

The figures primarily cover highways, including pavements and roads, and they don’t include the majority of private-land incidents and under-reporting remains an issue.

Fly-tipping on footpaths and bridleways accounted for 19% of all incidents, with council land next (17%) – representing an increase of 20% to 218,000 incident compared with the previous year.

See also: Farmers paying cost of fly-tipping, as prosecution rates drop

The figures paint a damaging picture of the financial burden and environmental impact fly-tipping brings, says the Country Land and Business Association (CLA).

A snapshot survey of CLA members found that 90% of respondents had been victims of fly-tipping in the past 12 months, with waste such as tyres, cannabis farm vegetation, nitrous oxide canisters, cooking oil drums, mattresses, fridges and sofas dumped on their land.

Almost 40% had experienced at least six separate incidents in the past year, and more than 75% said fly-tipping had a significant financial impact on their business.

More than nine in 10 believe local authorities need increased resourcing to help fight the war on waste.

Call to action

The CLA is therefore calling on the UK government to take action and deliver on its promise to establish a rural crime strategy.

CLA president Victoria Vyvyan said: “Rural communities have had enough of fly-tipping and waste crime, and the government must act. The long-promised rural crime strategy needs to be published as soon as possible.”

Local authorities carried out 528,000 enforcement actions and issued 63,000 fixed penalty notices in 2023-24.

Those found guilty under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 can also be handed a custodial sentence on conviction, and face additional fines.

David Bliss, chief executive of Lowther Estate in Cumbria, says the estate experiences five or six fly-tipping incidents a year, which are costly to clear up.

“Ministers should look urgently at increasing the penalties for convicted fly-tippers and properly resource rural police forces to ensure they are held to account,” he said. “Without more progress, landowners, not the criminals, will continue to pay the price.”