22 Mar 2023
A crusading councillor is leading a campaign against the scourge of fly-tipping in a bid to make the whole community take responsibility for the problem.
Dr Allison Wren, who represents Harpenden North and Rural on St Albans district council, is also the lead councillor with responsibility for waste, and has spent the past two years trying to push the issue of fly-tipping further up the political agenda.
And although she says there is still a long way to go, she believes SADC is now taking the matter more seriously, with an increase in enforcement officers and CCTV cameras at fly-tipping hotspots.
Last year alone, SADC recorded 190 separate fly-tips, but only eight fixed penalty notices (FPNs) served, but already this year there have been seven FPNs, with at least five incidents hopefully proceeding to the magistrates’ court.
One of the major district hotspots is Kinsbourne Green, where lorries come off the M1 from London or Luton and dump their loads in the country lanes before hopping back onto the motorway and fleeing the scene.
But this is just one of many similar sites across the district, with other locations including Cherry Tree Lane, Redbourn, Ayres End Lane, Woodcock Hill and Coleman Green Lane.
It’s not just the back of beyond either. A lay-by on the A414 just past the Park Street roundabout is notorious for dumped rubbish, with lorry drivers frequently urinating on it to make clearance and analysis more difficult. Fly-tipping by waste bins is also commonplace, such as on Southdown Road in Harpenden and near Fleetville Park.
Cllr Wren said: “Unfortunately the law is on the side of the fly-tipper. The fines are derisory despite local authorities asking for them to be increased for the past decade.
“If you do nothing about fly-tipping it will get worse, but for far too long we’ve treated the problem with apathy and complacency.
“The council and its contractor are working hard to remove all these fly tips but this is putting a sticking plaster on the issue until the next time, whereas we need to raise awareness and change attitudes and have more effective enforcement.
“It is something everybody can do. Homeowners can check the legitimacy of companies offering to remove household rubbish, schools can stop their pupils dumping takeaway boxes at lunchtime, residents can report the behaviour of anyone acting suspiciously in rural areas.
“This is genuinely anti-social behaviour which needs to be called out.”
Residents have also complained about the myriad ways to report fly-tipping incidents, all of which involve producing photographic evidence, and have called for a single, simple alternative option to make the process less complicated.
One campaigner for action is Harpenden Rural resident Kate Sheffield, who first moved to the area in the summer of 2018, since when she has regularly come across fly-tipped rubbish in the surrounding countryside.
“This has ranged from dumped furniture, bags of household waste (these are the worst as they inevitably end up strewn through the verges as the wildlife go through for the food waste – soiled nappies have also been found among the verges), landscaping and building materials, fridges, washing machines, office and household clearance items and repeated dumps of waste from cannabis farms including plants, fertilisers and soil.
“Residents here have to regularly litter pick just to keep on top of the waste that spills from these tips and the litter that is thrown from cars and vans as they pass through. Most residents I have spoken to about it are exasperated with the level of fly-tipping they see polluting what should be beautiful countryside just outside of Harpenden. The Chiltern Cycleway passes through Kinsbourne Green and cyclists, dog walkers and horse riders come to use our lanes every day, but their enjoyment is hampered by fly-tipping and litter.
“If the fly-tips are not cleared quickly they end up strewn across the verges and local volunteers end up clearing the litter. It’s also a huge danger to wildlife in the area. We regularly see and hear a lot of wildlife in the area including owls, geese, sparrowhawks, rabbits, foxes and deer, all of which are put in danger by the fly-tips, and livestock are also endangered by litter thrown into verges and hedges. I often find foil balloons, beer cans and plastic packaging in my field.”
She has welcomed the action taken by Cllr Wren and her colleague Cllr Ed Moore, who cycles the lanes very regularly inspecting fly-tips and sending off evidence as he finds it.
“I hope that his tenacity and data-driven approach to logging fly-tips, the efforts of Cllr Wren and the appointment of an additional enforcement officer at the council will mean that we begin to see fewer tips in the area soon and a faster clean-up of tips as they arrive.
“Addresses are sometimes found on utility bills, letters and delivery boxes within fly-tips and sent off to the council for processing so I’m hopeful that these will start to result in some prosecutions and make people stop and think before they fly-tip.
“Local residents and companies also need to be very careful to check that anyone they pay to dispose of waste has a waste carriers license (the number can easily be checked online), get a written receipt for the job and note
down the vehicle number and description before they leave.
“This means if their waste is found fly-tipped then the criminals can be brought to justice more easily.
“It’s a shame that it seems very hard to quantify at the moment how much we are spending on clearing up fly-tips.
“As I understand it, due to the nature of the council’s waste contract with Veolia, the clearance of fly-tips is part of the contracted fee so I would really welcome some kind of analysis as to how much these fly-tips are costing to clear – as this may make it easier to see sense in investing in preventative measures in the future.”
Cllr Moore added: “’I’m particularly aggrieved about the cannabis farm tipping. An illegal activity can only dispose of its waste illegally and so you get regular tips in the same places time and time again. Our lanes are one area taking the brunt of this.”
Chris Traill, SADC strategic director for community and place delivery, said: ““Fly-tipping is a criminal offence, a blight on the landscape and a potential health and safety hazard.
“Offenders risk substantial fines and imprisonment and we will not hesitate to prosecute any that we manage to track down.
“Our Environmental Compliance officers have identified Kennel Lane and Kinsbourne Green as a fly-tipping hotspot and although there has not been a significant rise in incidents over the past year, fly-tipping remains an issue and we are working to combat it.
“Fly-tips are investigated to see if there is anything among the debris that may help us trace the offender and we also deploy CCTV cameras in order to capture evidence.
“Across the district, these efforts have resulted in evidence being discovered that has led to the issuing since January of four fixed penalty notices and four statutory notices, requiring fly-tips to be cleared. We also have several ongoing criminal investigations which may result in prosecutions.
“In addition, the police have made fly-tipping in rural areas like Kinsbourne Green a neighbourhood priority for some time and regularly carry out patrols in the area.
“We are the lead agency for fly-tipping and recently agreed a new joint protocol with the police on dealing with the issue. We also work with the county-wide organisation Herts WasteAware and support their #SCRAPflytipping campaign.”
If you discover fly-tipped waste after the event, please report it.
For off-road fly-tipping call the hotline number 01727 809019; if the fly-tip is obstructing the highway call HCC on 0300 123 4047; f it looks like the fly-tipping might cause an immediate pollution risk to a watercourse call the Environment Agency on 03708 506 506.
Photos used in this article by Allison Wren, Ed Moore and Kate Sheffield.
