Agenda item

The report of the Director (Finance & Operations) recommends the Council’s Environmental Enforcement Strategy, which was first introduced in March 2007, be used to implement the regulations to enable the issuance of “Fixed Penalty Notices” (FPNs) and to pursue misdemeanours in court. 

The report of the Director (Finance & Operations) recommended that the Council’s Environmental Enforcement Strategy, which was first introduced in March 2007, be used to implement the regulations to enable the issuance of “Fixed Penalty Notices” (FPNs) and to pursue misdemeanours in court. 

During discussion the following points were raised and addressed:-

·           The turnaround time for larger building waste fly tipping incidents was usually longer than five working days due to the complexity of the collection arrangements for example removing asbestos and the need for specialist lifting equipment or disposal arrangements..  The scope for reducing the time taken to remove such loads was limited but continually strived for.

·           A balance was aimed for between clearing the site, ideally by the next day and not doing so that it became convenient for fly tippers to use the position as a regular dumping ground.  On occasion the materials were left in situ to allow Officers to gather evidence regarding a potential criminal prosecution.  In order to gather the evidence Officers would literally rummage through the rubbish left at the site.

·           Fly tipping additional service, a new service, would be monitored by the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

·           The FPN was set at £300 as Officers had considered this amount to be a balance between one that would deter offenders of small scale fly tipping but not so high that people would resist paying the fine and prefer to go to Court.

·           The FPN was considered to be a tool to be used so that people recognised it was wrong to fly tip and to take responsibility for their actions and rubbish.

·           The cost of clearing a fly tip was covered within the contract with the contractor, Serco.  It was more about public perception; the unsightliness and impact of the rubbish on the borough.  There were also resources implications as when the contractors were removing a fly tips they may have to divert some resources from their other duties such as litter picking.

·           A consistent approach to the application of the FPNs was considered to be a fair and equitable.  Guidance on the type of rubbish and quantity would be given once evidence had been collected and comparisons with previous cases made.  For example a few refuse sacks would be at one level whilst large scale fly tipping in country lanes may require the need to go to court.

·           A clear message needed to be sent to offenders that fly tipping was unacceptable and the Committee would welcome more FPNs being issued and prosecutions being pursued.

·           The Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee congratulated the Environment Team on the successful prosecution of a fly tipper and thanked the Team for their work in tackling fly tipping in the Borough. 

RESOLVED:

(1)       That the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee recommend to Council the addition of a “FPN” for fly tipping offences to the current offences for which “FPNs” are issued. The “FPN” would be issued after investigation(s) to individual(s) who the investigating officer(s) concluded were not regularly fly tipping offender(s) or were part of criminal activity.

(2)       That the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee recommend to Council the level of penalty to be set at £300 or a reduced penalty of £180 if the “FPN” is paid within 10 days.

(3)       That the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee recommend to Council “FPN” to be issued by current authorised officers (Community and Environment Officers and Street Wardens).