Penistone and Stocksbridge MP, Marie Tidball, has welcomed the Labour Government’s tough new measures to tackle soaring fly-tipping and clean up local communities. The Government have given new powers to local councils, to empower them to seize and crush fly-tipping vehicles, use new technologies to identify fly-tipping vehicles, and imprison waste cowboys for up to five years in prison.
Under the new rules, councils will be able to work closely with police to identify, seize and crush vehicles of waste criminals. Drones and mobile CCTV cameras will be deployed to identify cars and vans belonging to fly-tippers so they can be destroyed.
The new plans also mean that fly-tippers will cover the significant cost of their actions, savings councils and taxpayers' money. Currently, councils have to bear the costs of seizing and storing fly-tipping vehicles. To take action, the Government has launched a rapid review to slash red tape blocking councils from seizing and crushing vehicles.
In addition, waste cowboys will now face up to five years in prison for operating illegally. Any criminals caught transporting and dealing with waste illegally will now face up to five years in prison under the new rules.
The Environment Agency will also carry out identity and criminal record checks on operators in the sector so there is nowhere to hide for rogue firms. It will be handed more resources as they will now be able to fund the cost of policing the industry through permits, boosting their powers and cutting costs for taxpayers. The reforms will also give them more power to revoke permits, issue enforcement notices and hefty fines.
The Government announcement comes as new analysis reveals that under the Conservative Government, rates of fly-tipping in England increased by more than a third to over 3,000 incidents per day. At the same time, action against criminals illegally disposing of waste dropped, with fixed penalty notices to penalise rubbish dumpers falling by 12,000 since 2019.
In welcoming the announcement, Marie Tidball MP, Labour MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge, said:
“I want to ensure our communities are one of the best places to grow up and grow old in. That’s why I strongly welcome the Government’s tough new measures to crack down on this selfish behaviour. It’s simple, you make the mess, you pay the price.”“When knocking on doors across our communities, I’ve heard time and time again that residents are sick of the site of our streets being plagued by discarded rubbish and waste, and that it's a problem that has been ignored for too long.“Fly-tippers selfishly spoil our beautiful and special communities. The previous Conservative Government’s failure to act meant our high streets, roads, and countryside have been impacted by rubbish dumping, whilst waste criminals went unpunished.”
Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Steve Reed said:
“Waste criminals and fly-tippers who blight our towns and villages have gone unpunished for too long.“That ends today. The Government is calling time on fly-tipping. I will not stand by while this avalanche of rubbish buries our communities.“Under the Plan for Change, this Government will seize and crush fly-tippers vans’ to clean up Britain’s streets.”
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