Sheffield reports the highest rates of fly-tipping in the whole country

A YORKSHIRE city has the most incidences of flytipping out of any of the 324 councils in England, according to new figures.

The GMB trade union has called for increased investment in waste and recycling centres after a new study showed almost 820,000 incidents of illegal waste dumping across the country in the past year.

Sheffield reported the highest number of cases of fly-tipping out of all the local authorities in the country, followed by Lewisham, Newham and Haringey in London, and Liverpool, according to the report, which was published yesterday.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Figures show that 58,080 fly-tipping incidents were reported by Sheffield Council in 2010/2011 – up by 4,743 on the previous year.

Within Yorkshire, Bradford came second with 8,123 cases, followed by Doncaster with 6,084.

Scarborough was in fourth place with 5,797, followed by Wakefield on 4,737, then Leeds with 4,412 and Hull with 3,422.

Bottom of the Yorkshire and Humber table was Ryedale District Council, with only 123 reported cases of fly-tipping in the past financial year.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The total number of fly-tipping incidents, at just under 820,000 for 2010/11, was 127,000 down on the previous year, but was still costing councils a “huge amount” of money to clear up, said the union.

GMB national officer Brian Strutton said: “Not only is fly-tipping illegal but it is damaging to the environment and according to the Environment Agency it costs £100m to £150m a year to clean up.

“Two-thirds of fly-tipping involves household rubbish and GMB believes it would make good economic sense to invest in more municipal waste and recycling centres to make it easier and cheaper for the public to dispose of waste properly.

“Some councils have redefined fly-tipping so that even five bin bags left on the street is classified as litter and not fly-tipping.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“This would explain why some of the figures are well down on the previous stats.

“However, local authorities also need to target fly-tipping to improve their policing of the problem – out of 820,000 incidents last year there were only 2,500 prosecutions throughout England and Wales.”

Sheffield Council said yesterday that the high figures for the city resulted from differences in the way fly-tipping is reported by different authorities.

Coun Jack Scott, the council’s Cabinet member for environment and waste, said: “The reason that these figures are so high in Sheffield is that we report many more incidents of fly-tipping than in other areas, which means that the figures are not comparing like for like.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“This is proven by the fact that the Government have discounted Sheffield in some of the national averages they publish.

“We are doing all we can to prevent fly-tipping and are upping our efforts by taking action to clamp down.

“This includes improving enforcement, through working with existing enforcement officers and training wardens.

“The vast majority of people in Sheffield behave responsibly and dispose of their waste through the many options available to them in the city.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Fly-tipping is completely unacceptable and we hope that, through continuing to report all cases of fly-tipping and taking action to clamp down we will we can tackle the problem.

“Members of the public can report fly-tipping by calling 101.”

Fly-tipping is a criminal offence that carries a fine of up to £50,000, or an unlimited fine if the case is taken to crown court.

Those caught could also face a prison sentence of up to five years.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

People could also face the same penalties for allowing someone to fly-tip on their land, or if a vehicle registered to them is used to fly-tip. Fines of up to £5,000 can also be given to those who do not check that the people they give waste to have the correct licence.