Waste crime 'critically under-prioritised' – report

Hoads Wood, near Ashford in Kent, is a Site of Special Scientific Interest

Efforts to tackle serious waste crime have been "critically under-prioritised" despite the problem becoming bigger and more sophisticated, a House of Lords report has found.

The Environment and Climate Change Committee recommended an independent "root and branch" inquiry into how "endemic" waste crime is tackled.

The practice – dubbed the "new narcotics" by former Environment Agency chief Sir James Bevan – is estimated to cost the English economy around £1bn a year, according to the Environmental Services Association.

Committee chairwoman Baroness Shas Sheehan said: "I fear there is a broken system".

Organised waste crime, such as at Hoads Wood in Ashford, has been described as "endemic" in a new House of Lords report

The report recommends an independent investigation into the dumping of more than 30,000 tonnes of household and construction waste at Hoads Wood and six other illegal sites, including one in Sittingbourne.

Baroness Sheehan said members of the public had reported the activity but "nothing was being done".

She added: "Criminals seem to be able to act with complete impunity – it seems to be seen as a low-risk, high-reward crime."

The Environment Agency said criminal gangs had dumped the waste over a period of six months at Hoads Wood in 2023.

Baroness Sheehan added that, in respect of Hoads Wood, the Environment Agency, police and local authorities were at fault, adding: "It wasn't a high enough priority."

The report concluded that over 38 million tonnes of waste is believed to be illegally managed at some point each year - enough to fill the 90,000-seat Wembley Stadium 35 times.

Piles of illegal waste were dropped in Hoads Wood over the space of six months in 2023

The independent review of how waste crime is tackled must be completed by May 2027, the committee added.

Earl John Russell, a member of the committee, said: "This inquiry is a fundamental rethink and a chance to move and change the dial on this issue.

"Organised criminals are running rings around police officers.

"I think Hoads Wood highlights the broken nature of the government's ability to stop serious organised waste crime."

A Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs spokesperson said the government was "taking action to clean up Britain and tackle waste gangs" and would be responding to the repot "in due course".

They added: "Under our Plan for Change, we are tightening the net on gangs exploiting our waste system by helping councils to crush fly-tippers' vans, funding more Environment Agency enforcement officers and imposing tougher sentences for those who transport waste illegally."