Labour's Meg Hillier backs moves to clean up the streets

Labour’s Meg Hillier has given her backing to new ways of stopping fly tipping – part of the Labour Government’s proposed new measures.

“I know people in Hackney, particularly Hoxton, will welcome these new powers under the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Bill.

“I will be working hard to make sure the measures are introduced at the earliest point so that they can be used to help restore pride in our community and the environment in which we live,’ said Meg, who is Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Hackney South and Shoreditch constituency.

“Fly-tipping in Hackney is a serious environmental crime that will not be tolerated. Not only is this spoiling the local environment in Hackney, it is also costing the council almost £100 a minute to clear up,” she added.

Ms Hillier went on: “The Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Bill will go a long way to help combat fly-tipping, through stiffer penalties and by extending the powers of local authorities and the Environment Agency to deal with offenders.’”

These new powers in the Bill include;

*New powers to remove abandoned cars from the streets immediately before they can become eyesores which attract criminal behaviour;

*New powers to gate nuisance alleyways that attract anti-social behaviour;

*New powers to deal with fly-tipping, fly-posting and litter;

*New measures to help local authorities deal with noise from burglar alarms and pubs.

It is also proposed to raise the maximum penalty in a Magistrates’ Court to £50,000 to reflect the seriousness of large scale illegal dumping.

Rubbish is illegally dumped somewhere in England every 35 seconds, according to new figures released this week which show the true extent of the menace of fly-tipping.

The new information comes from Flycapture, a national fly-tipping database set up by Defra, the Environment Agency and the Local Government Association (LGA).

Meg added: “Flycapture is helping to target and catch these criminals who have no regard for our health and environment.

“Flycapture will help to target our resources more effectively, improve intelligence on the ground, and help track fly-tippers as part of our commitment to tackling anti-social behaviour.

“Last year Flycapture helped the Environment Agency and local authorities in London catch, confiscate and crush two trucks responsible for at least 27 separate incidents of fly-tipping, costing council tax payers thousands of pounds in clear up costs.’”

Ends

For more information, contact Ian Rathbone 07890 654 068, or e-mail ian.rathbone@tiscali.co.uk

Notes for editors:

Top Flycapture facts:

• The most common fly-tip is a black bag of household rubbish at the side of a main road

• Fly-tipping costs £100 a minute to clear up

• Every day there are 40 incidents involving multiple lorry-loads (being illegally dumped)

• Almost 28,000 fridges, freezers, and washing machines were fly-tipped between July and December 2004

• In the last 6 months of 2004 local authorities alone spent around £24 million clearing fly-tipping

Top five most frequently fly-tipped items:

1. Household rubbish

1. White goods such as fridges, freezers and kitchens

1. Construction, demolition and home improvement rubbish

1. Garden rubbish

1. Rubbish from businesses

Fly-tippers’ top 5 favourite spots to tip:

#Roadside

#Council land such as housing estates, car parks, parks and open

spaces

1. Back alleyways

1. Country paths

1. Private sites including private land and industrial sites

Other information:

Graphs and data are available on the Defra website:
http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/localenv/flytipping

Every waste collection authority in England has now registered on Flycapture, with 88% now regularly submitting data. Welsh local authorities also submit data to Flycapture and Scottish authorities have recently joined to submit data on a voluntary basis.

Flycapture is still a relatively new database with the number of returns increasing month on month. As local authorities improve the collation of the data it looks likely that the numbers of incidents reported will increase. Fly-tipping is a serious environmental crime and proposals in the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Bill will, if adopted, raise the maximum penalty in a Magistrates’ Court to £50,000 to reflect the seriousness of large scale illegal dumping.

The Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 has gone some way to making it easier for local authorities to obtain the necessary evidence to prosecute by extending their investigation powers and enabling them to stop, search and seize vehicles suspected of fly-tipping.