Call for action on illegal tipping (From Craven Herald)

Call for action on illegal tipping

6:00pm Thursday 29th December 2011 in Countryfile

A rural watchdog is urging farmers and landowners to report waste dumped illegally in gateways, fields and hedgerows over the holiday season so the police can measure the scale of the problem.

The Country Land and Business Association says fly-tipping in rural areas increases over any holiday period and the recently announced £5 million fund to help the Environment Agency clampdown on illegal waste sites will mean a surge in fly-tipping on private land.

CLA Yorkshire reional director Dorothy Fairburn said: “Waste dumped illegally can contaminate land and rivers and threaten livestock and wildlife.

“If caught, fly-tippers could receive a custodial sentence and be fined up to £50,000, but in reality, it is the private landowner who is left to settle a large clean-up bill and face prosecution.

“We are encouraged that Defra is looking at the CLA’s three-point action plan on how to deal with environmental crime as part of the waste review.”

The plan calls for the Government to ensure local authorities can accept fly-tipped waste without charge to landowners; an end to the prosecution of landowners who have waste dumped on their land and have to pay to remove it; and the creation of the right policy framework for local authorities to work with police forces on a zero-tolerance approach to the perpetrators.