Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the ability of local authorities to (a) investigate all incidents of fly-tipping in a timely manner and (b) prosecute fly-tippers in the event that they have sufficient evidence of that offence.
We expect local authorities to investigate all incidents of fly-tipping, including those on private land, prosecute fly-tippers when there is sufficient evidence and recover investigation, enforcement and clearance costs where possible.
Investigations have consistently been the most common action taken against fly-tipping incidents over time, accounting for 69% of all actions in 2020/21, with 316,000 investigations in total. This is an increase of 7% from 2019/20, where 296,000 investigations were carried out.
In 2016 we legislated to introduce a fixed penalty notice for fly-tipping of up to £400.
In addition, vehicles of those suspected of committing a waste crime, including fly-tipping, can be searched and seized.
For more serious offences, prosecution allows for both an unlimited fine and up to five years imprisonment. While sentencing is a matter for courts, we have worked with the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group to develop a guide to help local authorities and others present robust cases to court as a means of securing tougher sentences. We intend to publish this shortly.
I was pleased to see that Aylesbury Crown Court recently sentenced a serial fly-tipper who dumped rubbish in multiple local authorities to 21 months in prison and ordered his van seized.