Maximum penalty for fly-tipping looks set to increase to £1,000 in Harborough district
The maximum penalty for fly-tipping looks set to increase to £1,000 in the Harborough district.
Harborough District Council (HDC) has said it intends to increase the penalty from £400 to £1,000 through the 2006/27 budget process.
The update has come following a multi-agency meeting called by Alberto Costa MP to tackle flytipping in the Harborough district.
Representatives from Harborough District Council attended, and said a number of issues had been discussed relating to fly-tipping in the area.
The council said it is pulling together a range of information and evidence including hot-spot areas, frequencies, volumes and trends over time.
HDC said it was the authority’s intent “to increase its operational resource, focusing on investigating and removing fly-tips quicker and to increase the maximum penalty for fly-tipping from £400 to £1,000 through the 2006/27 budget process”.
A council spokesperson said: “We fully understand how frustrating fly-tipping is for local communities. It is a blight on our beautiful countryside and in our rural villages. We believe a multi-agency approach including the police, Environment Agency and local councils is the best way to tackle the problem, and that is what we are doing.”
Earlier this year, we reported on a “lorry load” of waste dumped “directly onto the public highway, completely blocking the road and creating a serious hazard for motorists”. The incident happened in Ashby Road, Ashby Parva, near Ullesthorpe Playing Field.
Following that fly-tipping incident, which happened in September, HDC’s Liberal Democrat leader, Councillor Phil Knowles, said: “Our enviro-crime team conducts daily vehicle and foot patrols in hotspot areas and actively engages with local communities and landowners to improve visibility, install deterrents, and encourage prompt reporting.”