Organised crime groups blamed for fly-tipping woes

Up to 20 tonnes (20,000kg) of waste was fly-tipped at Weald Country Park in January

Organised crime groups have been using false number plates to fly-tip waste on an unprecedented scale, a council leader has claimed.

Brentwood Borough Council said the number of incidents reported each year had more than doubled since 2021.

The authority's Lib Dem leader, Barry Aspinell, said the town's proximity to the M25 and London made it attractive for criminals.

"This is not fly-tipping as you or I would normally consider it, this is something totally different - on a large, industrial scale," he told the BBC.

The council's clean and green committee is to debate how the issue can be tackled at a meeting on Monday.

Meeting papers showed Warley, Doddinghurst and Brizes Park have been the worst affected areas in recent years.

Council leader Barry Aspinell says hundreds of residents are affected by fly-tipping

"It's awful. Really, really awful," Mr Aspinell said. "We've spent so much money, so much officer time on this.

"In my opinion - and of those in enforcement roles - this is organised crime.

"People are coming from across London and dumping lorry loads of contaminated waste, domestic waste and, in some cases, toxic waste.

"They dump it in our lay-bys, on our footpaths and then just drive off."

Up to 20 tonnes (20,000kg) of waste was fly-tipped at Weald Country Park in January.

Essex County Council, which looks after country parks, labelled it at the time as "potentially hazardous waste".

Fly-tipping, such as this incident at Crays Hill near Basildon, costs UK councils £186m a year

Figures provided by the borough council showed:

• The authority received an average of 600 fly-tipping reports annually between 2012 and 2021

• But there have been an average of 1,250 incidents in each of the last two years

• The council has spent £280,000 responding to fly-tipping over the last two years

• Fines totally £5,200 have been collected this year

• The council wants to half the number of fly-tip reports to 700 per year, by 2030

Mr Aspinell hoped the money from fines could be used to improve the borough, rather than reacting to crime.

He added: "This affects hundreds of residents who are on my back, quite rightly, because they want this to be cleared up.

"It's an ongoing battle we're having but it's not one we're going to give up on."