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Fly-tipping: Rural Areas

Asked by Manuela PerteghellaLiberal DemocratDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled Answered 23 April 2025UIN 45248

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to help support (a) local authorities and (b) enforcement agencies to tackle fly-tipping in rural areas.

Answered by Mary Creagh

We recognise the burden that clearing fly-tipped waste places on landowners. We want to reduce incidents in the first place so that fewer landowners are affected.

Local authorities have a range of enforcement powers to tackle fly-tipping and we want to see these at the centre of their efforts to tackle the problem. These include issuing fixed penalty notices of up to £1000 and prosecution. Upon conviction, compensation for the landowner’s clearance costs can be secured. We are seeking powers in the Crime and Policing Bill to provide statutory enforcement guidance to help councils make full and proper use of their powers.

We have also committed to forcing fly-tippers and vandals to clean up the mess that they have created and will provide further details on this in due course.

We continue to work with stakeholders, such as the National Farmers Union and local authorities, through the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group to share good practice, including how to prevent fly-tipping on private land. Various practical tools, including case studies and ‘how to’ guides on key issues such as setting up effective local partnerships, are available from their webpage at: https://www.keepbritaintidy.org/national-fly-tipping-prevention-group.

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