New figures released by the Department of Environment and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) show that Milton Keynes City Council’s crackdown on fly tipping is having a far bigger impact than action being taken elsewhere in the country.
DEFRA has reported that in 2021/22, fly tipping reduced across England by 4%. However in Milton Keynes, fly tipping came down by a massive 21% over the same period.
The significant local impact is thought to be partly due to the City Council installing CCTV at known fly tipping hotspots. As well as acting as a deterrent, this is helping it to increase enforcement. Evidence such as CCTV and dashcam footage helps not just to track down fly tippers but also to take more effective legal action. The City Council issued more than 100 Fixed Penalty Notices in 2022, up from 29 in 2021, and brought almost 20 prosecutions to court, up from 5 the year before. In January it increased its fixed penalty charge from £250.00 to £400.00 to bring it in line with those of neighbouring councils.
It’s also doing more to educate residents on the social costs of fly tipping, as well as how to report issues and how to dispose of waste properly. More work is being planned to tackle problem areas.
Milton Keynes City Council spends hundreds of thousands of pounds cleaning up fly tipped waste every year. Although commercial waste costs the most to deal with, most Milton Keynes fly tipping incidents involve household rubbish and items from house or shed clear outs, including old furniture and carpets.
"Our significant efforts to tackle fly tipping across MK are clearly having an impact, and we’ll be learning lessons from our work when we refresh our Fly Tipping Action Plan later this year. Keeping MK clean – which includes dealing with fly tipping, litter and other environmental mess - costs an average of £3m every year, and much of this money could be better spent on other services for residents. We’ll keep prioritising work to crack down on fly tippers.”