Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to help tackle fly-tipping in Ashford constituency.

The Waste Crime Action Plan sets a zero‑tolerance approach to waste crime and fly-tipping. It includes £45 million for the Environment Agency to double the enforcement, new police-style powers for officers, and budget for tougher sanctions for offenders, such as penalty points on driving licences. We will also soon consult on giving local authorities the powers to issue fly-tippers with conditional cautions, one of a range of pre-court community-based sanctions. Locally, work to clear illegal waste from Hoads Wood continues to be delivered as per the agreed programme. Almost half of the site has been cleared down to the natural underlying clay level. Sampling of the natural ground is taking place to demonstrate all waste and contamination has been removed.