CLA backs call for tougher stance on fly-tipping

CLA backs call for tougher stance on fly-tipping

The CLA, which represents thousands of landowners, farmers and rural businesses in the North, has backed the call from an influential group of MPs for councils to increase efforts to deter and penalise fly-tippers.

The Communities and Local Government Select Committee set out a number of recommendations in its report on litter and fly-tipping, published on Saturday (14 March).

CLA North Regional Director Dorothy Fairburn said: “Waste regularly blights the countryside and fly-tipping is a serious issue for rural landowners. On average it costs £800 to clear up each incidence of non-toxic fly-tipped waste on private land, and it costs the rural business sector up to £150 million in clean up costs every year. The CLA has called for culprits to be dealt with more robustly for years.

“We welcome the committee’s recognition that there is a need for local councils to increase their efforts to deter fly-tipping and to penalise the culprits.”

Miss Fairburn said she supported more power for enforcement authorities to tackle fly-tipping but wanted to see revision of the responsibility of individuals to clear away fly-tipped waste on their property.

She said: “Owners of land or property are still liable for any waste that is fly-tipped on their land and can be prosecuted if they do not clear it away. The CLA has put forward proposals for changes to the law which would provide better protection for private property owners who become victims of fly tipping through no fault of their own.”