Council has 'dismal' record dealing with fly-tippers, meeting hears

Fly-tipping costs Cheshire East about £239,000 a year but the council has a ‘dismal’ record for dealing with it and issued just 22 fixed penalty notices for 4,456 offences, councillors heard.

A national league table published by the Department of Environment, Food & Rural Affairs in August revealed that Cheshire East was 211 out of 308 councils when it came to issuing notices (FPNs) for fly-tipping.

And in the year ending March 2022, when Cheshire East issued just 22 FPNs, neighbouring Cheshire West and Chester (CWAC) issued 229 for 4,762 fly-tipping incidents.

Congleton town councillor Robert Douglas, who raised the matter at Wednesday’s meeting of Cheshire East’s full council, said while CWAC’s record was ‘not good’ at less than one FPN for every 20 incidents, Cheshire East’s – at less than one for every 200  – was ‘dismal’.

“While the number of fly-tipping incidents in Cheshire East fell by about nine per cent in the year to March 2023, the average cost of each incident increased by about 14 per cent, meaning that fly-tipping is now annually costing this council £239,400,” said Cllr Douglas.

He said that was more than £100,000 higher than the cost to the council four years ago.

He asked for the figures for the year up to March 2023 and whether cameras would be installed to catch these criminals and what other measures the council was taking.

Cllr Mick Warren (Ind), chair of the environment and communities committee, said the council only had six community enforcement officers to deal with a variety of environmental issues including abandoned vehicles, promoting responsible dog ownership and fly-tipping.

“Due to the size of the team and competing priorities, it is not possible for the team to attend each fly-tipping incident before it is cleared,” said Cllr Warren. “The team only formally investigate fly-tipping incidents where there is clear evidence of a crime. For those incidents which are attended, it’s not uncommon for perpetrators to take measures to ensure there is no traceable evidence contained within the fly-tipping material.”

He said there had been 24 FPNs issued for fly-tipping in the year ending March 2023.

Cllr Warren added: “There are no plans to install cameras as a method of deterring or enforcing against fly-tipping at this stage.”