LOCAL COUNCILS ENCOURAGE FLY TIPPING

According to the government whether we like it or not restrictions imposed over the last two years to minimise the transmission of Covid 19 have been lifted.  We can all go about our business as we wish taking any precautions we deem helpful (if any at all)  and trusting in our own common sense and vaccinations. Sounds simple but there are some areas of our lives where Covid restrictions have been used to make more inroads into the way we live.  

Magistrates will be well aware of the increase in the numbers appearing before them on charges of fly tipping as are local councils who provide the first line of defence against those despoilers of our highways and byways.   Councils are able to issue on-the-spot fines to fly-tippers of up to £400 and can stop, search and seize vehicles suspected of being used for fly-tipping. Local authorities and the Environment Agency are also able to issue penalties of up to £400 to householders who do not pass their waste to a licensed carrier and whose waste is then found fly-tipped. Fly-tippers can also be prosecuted and taken to court which can lead to a significant fine and/or up to 12 months imprisonment if convicted in a Magistrates' Court or an unlimited fine and/or up to 5 years imprisonment if convicted in a Crown Court. Fly-tipping prosecutions are highly successful with over 98% of prosecutions resulting in a conviction in 2019/20.  

One would think therefore that councils would do all they can to facilitate the needs of their residents by enhancing the efficiencies of their dump sites.  One would be wrong.  The regular 9 or 10 am to 4pm no appointment needed operating hours pre Covid are now history for most if not all councils.  As an example Barnet Council in north London has decreed that 24 hours notice must be given to its major public dump site and an appropriate appointment made in order to use the facility. In addition it`s insisting on Covid imposed rules for those attending. What utter nonsense is this.  The union members on site are all too ready to follow these instructions but what of the population of 330K who are its customers?  Fly tipping is a scourge on our society along with many others but it can be controlled with local councils doing their very best to be council tax payers orientated.  Barnet amongst many others is giving two fingers to those who pay their workers` wages.