Fly-tipping falls in district thanks to proactive campaign

Since Harborough District Council re-launched its anti-fly-tipping campaign Tip Off this year, incidents of fly-tipping have fallen by more than a quarter (27%) compared to last year – the biggest reduction since Council records began.

Since April 2019, there have been 270 fly-tipping incidents in the Harborough district, compared to nearly 370 incidents for the same period last year.

The fall has been welcomed and is attributed to the Council’s proactive actions, through its Tip Off campaign, and its success in catching the culprits who are blighting the district.

The Council said that tackling fly-tipping has traditionally been a challenge and, whilst in recent years fly-tipping has been increasing both nationally and locally, these new figures, which buck the trend, are being hailed as “hugely significant”.

Harborough District Council originally launched its Tip Off campaign in 2016 to make it easier for people to report fly-tipping. It was embraced by the public, receiving regional media interest, and was re-launched in 2019 with the added focus on making residents and businesses aware they have a ‘duty of care’ and are responsible for the rubbish they produce and how it is disposed of.

As part of the campaign, the Council has increased patrols across the district in its new 4x4 environmental crime vehicle, installed more covert CCTV in fly-tipping hotspots, increased signage, and gathered evidence from investigations. It has also carried out spot checks on businesses so it is known how they are disposing of waste, vehicle ‘stop and search’ initiatives with police to check drivers’ waste carriers licences, worked with parish councils on areas of concern, and increased messages on social media.    

In the last year, the Council has been successful in three court prosecutions against fly-tippers,  issued 18 fixed penalty notices for fly-tipping and ‘duty of care’ offences, and issued over 120 warnings to businesses and residents.

Cllr Jonathan Bateman, Harborough District Council’s Cabinet lead on environmental services, who recently featured in a video stating that fly-tipping will not be tolerated in the Harborough district (pictured), said: “We’ve taken a tough stance on fly-tipping and this reduction is hugely significant and testament to a proactive approach and a lot of hard work being done on a daily basis to tackle this issue. Fly-tipping is a blight on our district; but with the support of the public through our Tip Off campaign we are getting information all the time about incidents across the district which enables us to investigate and, where possible, catch the people doing it.”

Householders are legally responsible for any household waste produced on their property. They have a duty of care to check that any person or business disposing of their waste is legally allowed to do so.

There are several ways to dispose of the waste that cannot go into wheeled bins:

• Take large waste items to your local recycling and waste site (tip)
• Use a licensed waste carrier to remove your waste - it is a legal requirement to use a licensed waste carrier (you can also check if someone has a licence on the Environment Agency website)
• The Council’s large waste items for collection service allows for up to three large household items or 12 sacks of waste to be collected for a charge of £34.17.

The Council has also been working with other local authorities across the county as part of the #IfOnly campaign which also looks to tackle fly-tipping.

Find out more, or report fly-tipping in the Harborough district, at www.harborough.gov.uk/tip-off