St Helens councillor on 'laziness and selfishness' of fly-tipping

During 2020-21, the council has confirmed that a total of 2,060 incidents of fly-tipping were reported, which resulted in 61 fixed penalty notices.

Meanwhile, 76 were issued between April 2021 to March 2022, which saw 1,643 cases of fly-tipping reported.

The council says that on many occasions it is very difficult to establish where the waste has originated from, which is why the number of penalty notices issued ‘remains low’.

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Fly-tipping has reached a ten-year high in England, with northern communities suffering more than double the number of incidents than the south, according to new figures.

Last year, there were over 1,134,000 fly tipping incidents across England – an increase of 38 per cent over the last decade.

There have been particularly big spikes in fly-tipping incidents in England’s waterways and on footpaths and bridleways.

The research, carried out by civil society group Unchecked UK, found large variations between the north and south of England.

Last year, the North East, the North West, and Yorkshire and the Humber suffered almost double the number of fly-tipping incidents, relative to population size, than the South East and South West.

Despite ‘pioneering work’ by many councils to tackle the problem, enforcement of fly-tipping across England has ‘plummeted’.

Last year, nearly three-quarters of incidents were not investigated, and just 40 per cent of cases that were looked at resulted in enforcement.

Cllr Jeanie Bell, St Helens Council’s cabinet member for safer, stronger communities, says the public can play their part in tackling the issue by reporting incidents and providing key information.

Cllr Jeanie Bell (Image: St Helens Council)

She said: “Fly-tipping is an ugly crime which blights communities across the country, including right here in our borough, with resources stretched to meet demands when clear up operational costs are expensive enough – not to mention diverting what limited resources we have away from improving the overall cleanliness and appearance of the borough.

“It is a crime that stems from laziness and the selfish view that someone else will always clean up your mess. It won’t be tolerated in our borough and our officers work exceptionally hard to combat it, looking at new ways of increasing enforcement activity including the recent trial of mobile CCTV to act as a deterrent.

“Members of the public can play their part too by reporting any incidents of fly-tipping to us with as much information as possible on the culprits, such as vehicle registration plates and description to help us catch even more offenders and hold them accountable for their abhorrent actions.”

To report fly-tipping visit www.sthelens.gov.uk/flytipping.