Fly-tipping in Northampton more than double Nottingham in 2018, according to new figures
The figures were released as part of a report into fly-tipping incidents on agricultural land in the region by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
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Hide AdFor obvious reasons, Northampton did not have any reports of this nature.
However, the report also included the overall number of fly-tipping reports in 2018 for the East Midlands and Northampton had a figure of 18,393.
This compared to 7,374 in Nottingham and 5,640 in Derby. Elsewhere in Northamptonshire, Corby had 1,614 reports, East Northamptonshire 537, Kettering 1,035, Wellingborough 679 and South Northamptonshire 351.
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Hide AdAcross East Midlands as a whole, fly-tipping reports totalled 68,470.
The agricultural reports were significantly lower at 249 across the region. Kettering had the highest at seven, Corby had three and South Northamptonshire, one.
But Will Kendrick, of Farmers and Mercantile Insurance Brokers (FMIB), said that true scale of flytipping on East Midlands farmland is not reflected in the figures, as the DEFRA statistics excludes the majority of private-land incidents.
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Hide AdFarmers who fall prey to this crime are having to shoulder the burden, responsible for meeting the cost of clearing rubbish from their land themselves – at an average cost of £1,000 per incident. They are also liable if the dumped rubbish damages the countryside.
Kendrick, who is based in the Northamptonshire office, said: “Flytipping is a blight on our countryside, but dumped waste is not only visually impactful and a nuisance – it can be a source of pollution and cause harm to humans, animals and the environment.
“This year’s DEFRA figures show that it is not only everyday household waste that gets dumped by flytippers – thousands of incidents involve asbestos, clinical waste and chemical and fuel waste.
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Hide Ad“So, farmers do not only have to fork out for clean-up costs but also have to worry about the danger it poses to themselves, their workers, their animals and their land.
“These flytippers, both thoughtless individuals and unscrupulous ‘waste businesses’, don’t care that their irresponsible actions could lead to farmers being prosecuted under the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
“Innocent farmers have the choice of footing the clean-up bill or facing significant fines for not dealing with someone else’s mess.”