‘We're 100% now on the case’: Reform-led council slams claims Northampton is ‘drowning’ in fly-tipping

Reform councillor Nigel Stansfield told a full council meeting on Thursday evening September 24 that the council was clearing fly-tips “a lot better now, a lot more efficiently” and had begun an intensive programme of fines.

His comments came during a debate over an opposition motion calling for the council’s fly-tipping action plan to be brought forward.

In response to criticism, Cllr Stansfield said: “I'm glad to say we are sorting it out. Obviously we clear fly-tipping a lot, a lot better now, a lot more efficiently. We've obviously improved, we've got a lot more resource clearing graffiti and I'm very pleased to say that we will, we have started an intensive programme of issuing fines to fly-tippers and also households who present their waste early or not appropriate times.”

He added: “So we are working in the right direction. We realise it has taken time but we are definitely 100% now on the case and this will be changed.”

Reform took control of the council back in May 2025.

Cllr Stansfield’s response was to opposition councillors from the Liberal Democrats, Labour and Conservative, who painted a starkly different picture of the state of Northampton and surrounding villages.

Tory councillor Andrew Kilbride, who put the motion forward, said fly-tipping was “a curse” affecting both urban and rural wards. He said: “As fast as we're clearing it, it's there again the next day.”

Labour councillor Muna Cali was even more critical. She said: “As we all know, the town is drowning in fly-tipping, with rubbish being dumped across our streets and within our communities.

“This has become a serious, serious issue and an urgent action needs to be taken now. Not weeks, not months. Now, please.

“As has already been said, they dump it now, they clear it now and tomorrow it's back again or within a couple of hours.”

Lib Dem councillor Farzana Aldridge also backed the motion. She said: “Fly-tipping and litter blight our communities, damage our environment and undermine residents' pride in the places where they live.”

Tory councillor Pinder Chauhan also backed the motion and said the scale of the problem was well known to councillors. She said: “Everyone in this chamber knows how bad the fly-tipping is. We know it gets worse year on year.

“So can the Reform administration commit to publishing the fly-tipping figures by every month when this change comes in so that residents can see for themselves what improvements have been made.”

In response, Reform councillor and WNC leader Mark Arnull hit back saying: “This is performative politics of the highest order from the opposition bench this evening. Fly-tipping wasn't a thing that started on the 1st of May 2025, it's been there for years. The administration before this, who brought forward this motion tonight, all served in that previous administration, all set the budget that stripped regulatory services bare of resource and all operated the fly-tipping action plan that's largely in place and being upped by my administration with that limited resource in place.”

The motion was voted down 35 to 31.