UK is the 'messiest country' due to fly-tipping, farmer claims

Defra said there had been a 16% increase in fly-tipping nationally

A farmer who sees fly-tipping once a week believes the UK is the "messiest country" in the northern hemisphere.

Defra figures show the East of England had more than 79,000 incidents in a year, up 18,000 on the previous year.

But the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) said the majority of dumping occurred on private land and was not included in the figures.

Tom Streeter, who has land in Essex, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire, said: "This time of year we see a lot of it."

He said he had to dispose of any waste dumped on his land "in the correct way".

The figure of 79,726 incidents in the East of England, recorded from April 2020 to March 2021, was the highest recorded by Defra for the region in the last nine years.

In the region, the biggest rise was in Huntingdonshire, Cambridgeshire, where the amount of fly-tipping incidents increased by 334% from 542 to 2,351.

Farmer Tom Streeter said once rubbish was dumped on his land it was his responsibility to remove it

Mr Streeter, based at Great Hallingbury, near Bishop's Stortford, said: "This is happening on a weekly basis on the farm on the acres we have around here.

"We are finding anything from garden waste, to builders' waste, to waste nappies, to old fridges, to old cookers."

He said the worst thing he found was box containing a dead puppy.

The farmer added: "We're the laughing stock of the northern hemisphere; we've got to be the messiest country.

"On our countryside where we are growing crops that are going into the food chain, we're just tipping litter into it like it's not a problem."

The CLA said fly-tipping was a constant menace on both public and private land

Tending District Council, in Essex, has urged residents to photograph or film people caught in the act of fly-tipping.

Figures show in the last year the authority had not had a single prosecution or issued any fines, despite spending £78,000 cleaning up 1,991 incidents.

Neil Stock, leader of the council, said it needed some "some high-profile prosecutions" to deter people.

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But Alison Provis from the CLA said there needed to be "tougher punishments" for the offence.

She said: "There's just not a deterrent, really, to deter people from doing this.

"Really making sure the fines that are being imposed really reflect the seriousness of the incident."

There is currently no minimum fine for unlawfully depositing waste, and sentencing in individual cases is decided by the court.

Householders can be fined up to £400 if they pass their waste to an unlicensed waste carrier and it is subsequently fly-tipped.

Resources and Waste Minister Jo Churchill said the government had "given local authorities a range of powers to tackle fly-tipping".

She said the new Environment Act would be "strengthening powers to detect and prosecute waste criminals".

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