FLY-TIPPING has dropped by nearly a third in the Lutterworth area over the last year.
Over the last 12 months, there were 322 fly-tips in the Harborough district, down from 469 the previous year – one of the district’s largest ever yearly reductions, continuing a three-year successive reduction, and bucking the national trend.
According to new Defra figures, local authorities across the UK have dealt with a 16 per cent rise in fly-tipping in the same period – but Harborough District Council’s (HDC) Tip Off campaign, which last year won a National Recycling Award, continues to buck the national trend.
Tip Off encourages residents to report incidents through the Council’s website or by email, with public reports about fly-tipping increasing this year by 124 per cent.
Since Tip Off launched in 2018, the council, with support from the public, has helped reduce fly tipping by 59 per cent across the Harborough district – helped by collaboration with police, parish councils, the National Farmers’ Union, and the Environment Agency.
HDC’s environment and waste spokesman Coun Jonathan Bateman said: “What a result this is! To achieve a reduction for the third year in a row is amazing, but to reduce fly-tipping by such a huge amount is astounding.
“Huge credit to the tenacity of our enviro-crime team, and waste contractor FCC Environment, who all work closely with our communications team to spread the message that fly-tipping will not be tolerated in Harborough district.
“I’d like to thank residents who continue to be the eyes and ears of the community in providing information to help with our investigations. We all need to remain vigilant, particularly by always checking that anyone removing rubbish from your property is licensed to do so.”
The council has promoted the message that residents and businesses are legally responsible for any household waste produced on their property, and have a ‘duty of care’ to check that any person or business disposing of their waste carries a valid waste carrier’s licence.
The council also uses covert CCTV in fly-tipping hotspots, in-car cameras, daily patrols, and warning banners on the side of its refuse collection vehicles.
All fixed penalty notices have been publicised, and any court prosecutions have seen culprits named and shamed through radio and local press. There have been 268 enforcement actions this year – including fixed penalty notices and warning letters to those suspected of fly-tipping – compared to 190 last year, and 169 the year before that.
Visit www.harborough.gov.uk/tip-off for more advice and information about Tip Off.
