Fall in fly tipping cuts council clean-up costs

Officers place crime tape and fliers on rubbish they have found to raise awareness

Fly tipping in parts of a county has fallen as a result of investing in enforcement and CCTV, according to the local council.

Cheshire West and Chester deputy leader Karen Shore told BBC Politics North West costs of clearing up fly tipping had fallen by two thirds.

"We were spending £350,000 a year on cleaning up fly tips, we’ve not got that down to £100,000 a year," she said.

In the North West as a whole, fly tipping has increased over the last decade.

Officers search through fly tipped waste for evidence

Government statistics showed there were 2,340 incidents of fly tipping in Cheshire West and Chester Council.

That is compared with 5,731 incidents in 2020/21 and 2,692 in 2012/13.

The council said it was working with partners such as the police and the Environment Agency on dealing with fly tipping.

It is also investing in CCTV, which is sometimes used covertly.

Officers also go door to door and put leaflets through in areas where rubbish has been found.

Aimee Ruane from the council said they wanted to make the area a "hostile environment" for fly tipping

Aimee Ruane, regulatory services officer at the council, said the council was taking "lots of steps to proactively tackle" the issue.

She said much of the waste they found was household or building waste, but there were also issues with caravans being dumped in rural areas.

"We had an incident not too long ago where a mobile caravan was inside a static caravan," she said.

"That’s quite costly for us to remove."

One incident involved a caravan being found inside another caravan on a country lane

Councillor Shore said: "We're recognising in recent years that it’s been on the increase, I think there's a national issue with fly tipping."

She said the decision to invest in tackling the issue had reduced its spending on clean-ups.

"It’s saving money, it's greener, it's cleaner, it's better and safer for our communities," she said.

In the North West as a whole, fly tipping has increased from 105,201 incidents in 2012/13 to 132,034 in 2022/23.

The highest figure was 144,356 in 2020/21, according to statistics from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.