More people being caught and fined for fly-tipping in Telford and Wrekin

This year 164 fixed penalty notices of £400 have already been issued and the council is using ‘data-led’ methods to cut down fly-tipping numbers further.

Telford & Wrekin Council’s communities scrutiny committee heard this week that there had been a 40 per cent reduction in fly-tipping in the last two years.

Dean Sargeant, director of neighbourhood and enforcement services, and Paul Fenn, neighbourhood enforcement manager, gave a presentation to councillors at their meeting.

It revealed that last year 109 fixed penalty notices were issued, while this year 164 notices of £400 have already been given.

A further 80 people this year have been given waste education information.

The council have also reduced the saving for paying the fixed penalty notice within 10 days, from £200 reduction to just £50, in a bid to deter people from committing the offence again.

Mr Fenn said that the neighbourhood enforcement team, involving nine council officers, work with West Mercia Police, the Environment Agency and the NFU.

“We’re trying to be more intelligent and data-led,” said Mr Fenn. “People are using My Telford to report fly-tipping and our contact centre. We want to show what we’re doing and empower people and show them that we are doing something about their complaints.

“We want the public’s help and they play an important part.”

Mr Fenn said that having a dedicated hotline for fly-tipping was an important part of encouraging people to report the crime.

The council’s officer said that collaborating with town and parish councils allowed the service to get a ‘different type of information’.

Telford & Wrekin Council has also got a CCTV van to help tackle fly-tipping, allowing officers to view any of the borough’s 700 CCTV cameras.

Solar CCTV cameras have also been installed in some locations across the borough, including Norbroom Park in Newport.

“The park has a lot of anti-social behaviour,” said Mr Fenn. “We installed a new lighting column including a solar camera.

“It allows us to see the area in colour even though it’s pitch black, when people think we can’t see them.

“There is an accumulation of a number of things which is reducing fly-tipping.”

Those found to be fly-tipping are first sent a warning letter asking them to explain the dumping of rubbish.

This can then be followed by a fixed penalty notice or prosecution.

Mr Fenn said that there have been examples of people advertising on Facebook for a ‘man with a van’ charging people in Telford and Wrekin to collect their waste without having a waste disposal licence.

He said that people had travelled into the area from Wolverhampton and Stafford with the service before illegally dumping the waste.

Mr Fenn added that helping people tackle fly-tipping on private land was also important by giving out advice and they could also work with landowners to prosecute those found illegally dumping items.

The council’s officer also said that people don’t realise that the ‘scrap man’ also needs a licence which should be on display in the vehicle ‘at all times’.

Councillor Peter Scott, ward member for Newport West, complimented the council’s neighbourhood enforcement. He said: “This is one of our success stories. We do this very well.

“The biggest thing we can do is make sure people understand who this team are.”

Councillors decided to form a working focus group looking at communicating the message of correct waste disposal through town and parish councils.