Fly-tipping is a significant issue across the country but in figures released this year, Newark and Sherwood District Council has been ranked highly for the efficient way in which their officers respond to incidents and deal with offenders.
In the Government’s Local Authority League Table, Newark and Sherwood has been ranked as the best district or borough in Nottinghamshire and has scored 2nd place across the whole of the East Midlands for incident to Fixed Penalty Notice ratio and 4th for FPN totals.
Fly-tipping is the illegal dumping of waste and there were 1,575 incidents of this in the district in 2022/23. The offence can be prosecuted in court, especially in the case of large-scale waste criminals, but local authorities also have the power to issue on-the-spot fines between £150 and £400.
Newark and Sherwood issued 261 of these Fixed Penalty Notices in 2022/23 which earned them their high ranking and demonstrates their commitment to tackling the offence, with a huge increase from just 5 issued in 2019.
FPNs are just one of the many methods that the District Council have been using in their crackdown on environmental crime.
Over the past few years, this has become a keen focus with officers listening to and acting upon residents’ concerns.
They have worked with partners including Nottinghamshire Police, the Environment Agency and DVSA, conducting special operations 4 to 6 times per year and carrying out stop and spot checks on vehicles which may be carrying waste to ensure they have the correct licences in place.
They’ve also been working on target hardening locations where fly-tipping is prevalent such as Grange Lane and Deerdale Lane, for which a Public Space Protection order has recently been granted, and regularly rotate 12 portable CCTV cameras around hotspots throughout the district.
Councillor Paul Taylor, Portfolio Holder for Public Protection and Community Relations at Newark and Sherwood District Council, said: “Fly-tipping is a serious offence and a blight to our treasured landscape and environment in Newark and Sherwood. I’ve heard from residents many times that they want to see us tackling this along with littering and other environmental offences so I’m very proud to see our officers delivering fantastic results through their hard work.
“I would encourage everyone who is having bulky waste collected to be vigilant; it’s your responsibility to ensure that you use a trustworthy carrier so always check their licence number and ask them to provide a waste transfer note or receipt. We can all do our part to help prevent these awful incidents.”
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