LAWR

STREET SCENE A fly-tipping free Wales? Wales has ambitious plans to eradicate fly-tipping and has recently published its strategy. LAWR analyses 'A Fly-tipping Free Wales'. ew policy think- ing keeps on rolling out from Wales. Last month Gwynedd coun- cil agreed to move to three-weekly black bin collections and Torfean Council is thinking about monthly ones. Wales is also providing an ongoing consultation on TEEP guidance. Now, it wants to take on fly-tippers. The Welsh Government has launched a strategy called 'A Fly-tipping Free Wales'. It identifies four outcomes which give direction to counter future fly-tip- ping across Wales. It wants to ensure that all key organisations in Wales to commit to eliminating fly-tipping; to make fly- tipping socially unacceptable, to make it easier for people to deal with their waste responsibly and to punish anyone who is caught fly-tipping. The Government has produced this strategy because it has acknowledged that fly-tipping is a problem in Wales. Flycapture (a fly-tipping database) figures show that although there has been a reduction of 36% since 2006/07 there were still 34, 876 incidents of fly-tipping reported in Wales during 2012/13. This equates to four incidents of fly-tipping taking place every hour of every day. These incidents cost nearly £2m to clear, and the Government argues that this money could have been better spent elsewhere to improve the lives of com- munities in Wales. Flycapture only records incidents of fly-tipping that occur on public land so the true scale of fly-tipping is likely to be much larger than that indicated by the Flycapture figures alone. The majority of waste that is fly-tipped is household waste in Wales and England and most fly-tipping incidents are the size of a small van load. Currently, support for tackling fly-tip- ping within local authorities varies across Wales. This is because the investigation of fly-tipping incidents is not a statutory duty for local authorities and therefore the resources they invest in tackling fly- tipping differ across Wales. To eliminate fly-tipping in all areas of Wales will require support from the top of all key organisations, according to the Government. It says that intelligence sharing between local authorities and Natural Resources Wales has historically been limited but the Government says this will change due to a new 'Prosecution Pilot Scheme' it is trialling with six coun- cils in north Wales. As part of the scheme, solicitors from six local authorities will work together to form a 'Virtual Team' in order to provide prosecution services for the whole of the Principal Counsel's north Wales region. In fact, the Government states that fly- tippers should not be able to commit an offence more easily in one area of Wales than another. It claims that it wants all enforcement bodies to have the necessary tools and skills to enable them to catch offenders. Currently the only options for punish- ing fly-tippers is to either take a case to court or issue a simple caution. However, new guidance from the Sentencing Council directs magistrates to ensure that the fine issued for an offence is never less than the benefit gained from com- mitting the offence. The Government says it hope sentences for fly-tipping will prove more of a deterrent once this new guidance is introduced. As councils face budget pressures, they may find it difficult to invest in cam- eras to gain intelligence on fly-tippers. However, waste expert Chris Coggins says that councils could easily invest in dummy cameras and signage to deter fly- tippers without spending a lot of money. The Welsh Government says it hopes to investigate introducing a Fixed Penalty Notice for fly-tipping incidents. Eliminating fly-tipping will be a huge task. A few reckless individuals can blight a whole neighbourhood and attract crime. Wales is on the right track to tack- le the problem. With tougher enforce- ment measures on the way it may just realise its vision. 20 Local Authority Waste & Recycling July 2014 N • 34,876 incidents of fly-tipping reported in 2012/13 in Wales • That's four incidents every hour • Costs local authorities nearly £2m to clear • 85% of fly-tipped waste in Wales is from the household • 9% of fly-tipped waste comes from construction and demolition sites • 6% is green waste Fly-tipping at a glance: " Currently the investigation of fly-tipping is not a statutory duty for local authorities "

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