£300,000 spent clearing fly-tipping in 12 months but council only reclaims £3,500 in prosecutions fines
MORE than £300,000 is spent clearing up illegally dumped rubbish across Northampton a year...but only £3,500 is claimed back in successful prosecutions, new figures have revealed.
Northampton Borough Council dealt with 7,230 instances of fly-tipping between April 2010 and March 2011, one of the highest figures recorded in the country.
In contrast South Northamptonshire District Council dealt with just 374 incidents.
The Countryside Alliance compiled the fly-tipping report to highlight the scale of illegal rubbish dumping with data from 81 per cent of local authorities in Britain.
On top of the £319,199 spent on disposing of the waste, a further £138,681 was ploughed into prevention work, including patrolling hot-spots, by the borough.
But just £3,517 was claimed back in fines following 18 successful prosecutions in the town.
Councillor David Mackintosh, cabinet adviser at Northampton Borough Council, said: “Fly tipping is a national problem and we don’t believe it is any worse in Northampton than anywhere else.
“But it’s clear that fly-tipping is unacceptable and more than that, it is a crime, it is dangerous and it destroys our local environment.”
He added that environmental crime officers investigate wherever it is possible but the nature of the crime makes it difficult to gather evidence for prosecution.
Northampton Borough Councillor Penny Flavell (Con, Rushmills), who has dealt with on-going issues of fly-tipping in the Mounts, said: “I think the fly-tipping that goes on is absolutely disgraceful.
“The council is trying hard to crack down on it but it would be good to see more prosecutions, people are totally fed up of it.”
South Northamptonshire Council spent less than one per cent on clearing up and preventing fly-tipping than its neighbouring borough council.
A spokeswoman for South Northants said positive figures were largely down to the lack of social deprivation in the rural area, which is often linked to fly-tipping. She added that a swift reaction from its environment team in dealing with incidents and vigilant reporting by residents helped to keep the illegal dumping to a minimum and stop repeat offences.
She said: “The low figures are a testament to our waste services team and we will continue to deal with it efficiently.”
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There are 15 comments to this article
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SEMILONG.ORG
Thursday, September 1, 2011 at 09:34 PMThe whole problem is summed up quite adequately by Councillor David Mackintosh, when he said “Fly tipping is a national problem and we don’t believe it is any worse in Northampton than anywhere else" and yet he says this whilst the 7230 cases puts it as one of worst places in the country for flytipping. Incredible bare-faced sticking its head in the sand cheek!! This is why residents continue to face this problem year in and year out, because Northampton Borough Council NEVER takes it's head out of it's arse and faces up to the problem in order to tackle it. They continue to charge £25 for bulky waste collection even to deprived neighbourhoods which though is no excuse to fly-tip, it does not encourage responsibility to already struggling families. Many of whom watch Northampton Borough Council's own staff dump rubbish into neighbourhoods with no thought to their duty of care to residents and local children. Ladypen, in one of the previous comments was spot on...the Council does dump the rubbish and SEMILONG.ORG has the video evidence to prove this. We have even written to Council officers and to the Director of Housing herself and begged that she put a stop to this practice. Yet it continues. SEMILONG.ORG reports every instance of fly-tipping that we see, providing video evidence where possible and as a result five people have been cautioned. We are not proud of that. We would much prefer to have reported none because no-one is dumping rubbish and spoiling the neighbourhood for everyone else. But until NBC gets it act in order and takes flytipping seriously, the problem will persist.
The Old Geezer
Thursday, September 1, 2011 at 06:59 PMI have been told my link does not work, try this one www.northamptonchron.co.uknewslocalpolice_state_warning_over_crime_wardens_1_886342
The Old Geezer
Thursday, September 1, 2011 at 06:50 PMOne minute Ms Flavell says she wants to see more prosecutions yet in 2009 she said she did not want to see environmental crime officers, see her quote in the chronicle http:www.northamptonchron.co.uknewslocalpolice_state_warning_over_crime_wardens_1_886342 she wanted friendly wardens. How on earth can being friendly stop scum dumping their rubbish in the streets?
ladypen
Thursday, September 1, 2011 at 05:04 PMthey make me laugh over all this fly tipping...we have fly tipping here in spring boroughs of furniture etc & it is done by the council itself!!!!...dump it on the grassland & wait for the council lorrys to come n collect it!!!...cant blame residents for that can they???
poppiesforever
Thursday, September 1, 2011 at 04:52 PMYou said in a previous comment Lord T that you own property in the Salcey area,but it would appear you dont live in it,do you work for the council checking the estates or is your comment about Thorplands just ignorant hearsay? I would hope you reasearch before you comment,i dont live on Thorplands,but we regularly walk through it,and its not as bad as ,say Overstone Lodge or parts of Goldings.
BQ
Thursday, September 1, 2011 at 02:34 PMIs there such a thing as a hand-wringing competition in the Olympics? If there is, we have a gold medal champion in Northampton: Councillor Monkeytosh. What is the Guildhall doing pushing this Tory wet forward to fend off the latest news about their failure to get a grip on the things that affect us council tax payers? He couldn't get the rubbish collections sorted out - and still hasn't. I've heard the Councillor who should be responsible spends most of the time living in his second home in France. We are paying these buffoons to do a job and they aren't doing it.
Lord Tarquin Reacharound
Thursday, September 1, 2011 at 01:58 PMThey should have a walk round Salcey Froset - the fly tipping makes it look like Thorplands on a good day. I'd be interested to know how "deprivation", presumably meaning no jobs or low income in this context, makes someone more likely to dump their tat in a hedgerow?
donathome
Thursday, September 1, 2011 at 12:49 PMGood point Cely
jamo_69er
Thursday, September 1, 2011 at 11:50 AMthat meant to say if you cant dump your rubbish legaly.
jamo_69er
Thursday, September 1, 2011 at 11:48 AMi agree with the above comments about fly tipping etc, but does anyone take into consideration how strict the tips are these days? cases of fly tipping are on the rise because they wont let you in the tip to get rid of your rubbish! i have loads of rubbish to get rid of but have been barred from all the tips in northamptonshire for 2months as i went twice in a month and was told not to come back for 2 months otherwise i will get fined! is it really any suprise people are fly tipping if your told you can dump your own rubbish legally?
Cely
Thursday, September 1, 2011 at 11:23 AMDoes this include the cost of cleaning up after the travellers where the council know who is responsible but refuse to prosecute?
Chrispy1
Thursday, September 1, 2011 at 11:02 AMWhat's most worrying is that Councillor MacKintosh is clearly in denial. Despite the independent figures showing Northampton is amongst the worst areas in the country for fly-tipping, he apparently "doesn't think it is" (though he offers no evidence why he doesn't believe the official figures). With head-in-the-sand councillors like this, the problems will never be solved.
Reverend
Thursday, September 1, 2011 at 09:51 AMPresumably the loss of Environmental Officer posts in the past twelve months have nothing to do with the lack of investigation, then. Save a persons wage and spend five times as much in clearing up the waste. Good move NCC..
lady muck
Thursday, September 1, 2011 at 07:48 AMdonathome...I agree...if they can't pay, deduct it from their pay or benefits at source. Seize the vehicles involved. It's no use just moaning about it...we want some real committment. Dare I suggest that there would be a stricter line if the tipping was outside the Councillors' own homes ?
donathome
Thursday, September 1, 2011 at 07:27 AM£3,517 spread over 18 prosecutions, they are obviously not fining these people enough. This calculates to just under £200 per fine. Try £5000 per offence.
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