Fly-tips: 41 Fixed Penalty Notices issued so far this year
Forty-one fines for fly-tipping have been issued by St Albans District and City Council’s enforcement team so far this year.
The number is a significant increase on the same period last year when seven such Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) were issued.
Altogether, 154 fly-tips have been investigated by the Council’s Environmental Health Officers in 2023 with 27% of enquiries leading to FPNs.
Professional fly-tippers are reckoned to be responsible for a substantial proportion of illegal rubbish dumps in the District.
These usually contain commercial waste from construction sites and property clearances with efforts being made to ensure there is no material that could lead to those responsible being traced.
The Council has taken measures to detect offenders including the installation of mobile CCTV cameras in hot spot areas and patrols with police to try and catch offenders in the act.
A report on the Council’s work to combat fly-tipping was given to a meeting of the Public Realm Committee on Thursday 14 September.
Councillors were told that there are several fly-tipping investigations currently underway including one particularly serious case that is being taken to court and another that may also result in a prosecution.
Incidents of fly-tips containing garden waste has reduced by 42% since a charge was introduced last year for green bin collections.
Councillor Lynn Cunningham, Lead for Waste and Fly Tipping, said after the meeting:
Fly-tipping is an eyesore, a potential health hazard and a criminal act. I also know that it has been one of our residents’ major concerns.
We have been working hard with partner organisations, including the police and Herts Waste Aware, to both deter fly-tipping and to bring offenders to justice.
I’m delighted to hear that we are enjoying considerable success with the number of offenders that have been traced and fined having increased sharply.
We are continuing with our initiatives, such as the use of mobile CCTV cameras, to deal with fly-tipping and will not get complacent despite the advances we have made.
I was also pleased to see that garden waste fly-tips have fallen quite dramatically. Those who feared the garden waste charge would result in an increase have been proven wrong.
Media contact: John McJannet, Principal Communications Officer: 01727 819533, john.mcjannet@stalbans.gov.uk.