There were more than 6,000 fly tipping cases in Kirklees last year, though the council issued just 49 fines.
In 2021/22 6,436 incidents of fly-tipping or illegal dumping of waste took place across the district. This equates to on average 18 incidents a day.
Last year, Yorkshire Live revealed four cases of fly-tipping where offenders racked up fines totalling over £5k. At the time, Cllr Naheed Mather, Cabinet Member for Environment said: “Let it be made clear, fly-tippers in Kirklees: if you are responsible, we will use everything in our power to find you and make you pay.”
According to a new analysis of Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs’ figures, Kirklees is not alone in its fly-tipping troubles. The number of fly-tipping incidents skyrocketed across England by a third over the last 13 years from 819,571 in 2010 to 1,091,019 in 2022.
These figures show the widespread dumping of large fridges, old furniture, carpets and waste – plaguing communities across the country. The stats also show that the number of Fixed Penalty Notices for fly-tippers increased by 176% over the same period – suggesting that the current sanction regime isn’t working in deterring offenders.
A spokesperson for Kirklees Council said: “There were around 6,500 fly-tipping reports across 2021/22, this figure is made up of around 2,500 fly-tips on highways/council land with the majority of the rest being on private land.
Labour says if its government were in power, ‘clean up squads’ would be established to tackle the issue.
“Our teams aim to clear up waste from highways/council land as soon as possible to prevent further fly-tipped waste from being added; they also work with private landowners who are responsible for removing any waste from their land.
“Every report of fly-tipping, including those on private land, is investigated with a view to taking action against the offenders; this could be a warning letter, fixed penalty notice (FPN), a vehicle seizure and/or prosecution. In the year 2021/22 we issued 49 FPNs and a further 22 individuals were successfully prosecuted in the courts.
“Every report we receive which has been witnessed by a member of the public, or caught on camera is followed up. In addition, the council deploys its own CCTV in appropriate locations. Anyone who spots fly-tipping taking place or wants to report an incident can do so on the website here.”
