Latest figures shine ‘damaging’ spotlight on fly-tipping crime.
Rural communities across the South West are being buried under mountains of illegally dumped waste as the battle against fly-tipping continues.The latest government statistics released by the Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) reveal that councils in England dealt with 1.15 million fly-tipping incidents in 2023/2024, an increase of 6% on the previous year.
In the South West, there were 51,175 reported incidents of fly-tipping – an increase of 2.4%. The figures for every local authority area in England can be found on the government website here, with a number of boroughs and districts recording a significant rise in incidents, including:
- Bath and North East Somerset rose by 11%
- Cheltenham rose by 16%
- Cornwall rose by 11%
- North Somerset rose by 13%
- South Gloucestershire rose by 21%
- Stroud rose by 33%
- Swindon rose by 76%
- Torbay rose by 20%
Yet, the picture becomes even more bleak as the statistics do not include incidents of fly-tipping on private land, with the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) saying the true volume is even higher than the statistics suggest.
The organisation says thousands of offences go unrecorded every year, as farmers often have so little faith in the ability of the police or council to deal with fly-tipping that they simply bear the cost of removing rubbish themselves.
A new snapshot survey of CLA members found that 90% of respondents had been victims of fly-tipping in the last 12 months, with waste such as tyres, cannabis farm vegetation, nitrous oxide canisters, cooking oil drums, mattresses, fridges and sofas dumped on their land. Almost 40% had experienced at least six separate incidents in the past year, and more than 75% said fly-tipping has a significant financial impact on their business. More than nine in 10 believe local authorities need increased resourcing to help fight the war on waste.
Ann Maidment, Country Land and Business Association Regional Director for the South West, said: “Right now, the situation remains grim with incidents of fly-tipping remaining worryingly high. If every occurrence of this rural crime was recorded when it happened on private land, it would paint an even more damaging picture of the financial burden and environmental impact fly-tipping brings. It’s not just litter blotting the landscape, but tonnes of household and commercial waste which can often be hazardous endangering farmers, wildlife, livestock, crops and the environment.
“When fly-tipping occurs on private land, landowners have to pay to clear the waste out of their own pockets, or face being prosecuted themselves. The cost can run into thousands of pounds. When they are the victim of a crime, how is this right? We have members telling us that criminals have broken down fences and security gates to dump waste illegally on their property which has then led to further issues, including theft of valuable farm machinery and vehicles.
“Our call to government and local authorities is simple - to help clear fly-tipping incidents on private as well as public land.”
The CLA has challenged the government to launch its rural crime strategy, announced nearly 12 months ago before the general election.
Country Land and Business Association President Victoria Vyvyan said: “Rural communities have had enough of fly-tipping and waste crime, and the government must act. Farmers and the countryside are increasingly being targeted by organised crime gangs – often violent – who know that rural areas are under-policed and so they target them. The long-promised rural crime strategy needs to be published as soon as possible. As Labour itself has pointed out, the crime rate in rural areas has surged by 32% since 2011, faster than in urban areas. People, communities and businesses deserve to feel safe and protected, and the first place to start must surely be ending the chronic under-funding of rural police forces."