Fly tipper prosecuted

A man has been ordered to pay £1,240 in fines and costs after admitting fly tipping waste in Besom Lane, Westerleigh.

The man from Staple Hill  appeared before North Avon Magistrates’ Court and was fined £400 with costs of £800 and a £40 victim surcharge.

The court heard that a Yate resident had been in contact with Burnell who agreed to remove some cardboard and packaging waste for the resident for £40. The waste was subsequently found dumped in a lay-by on Besom Lane. Burnell had claimed that he was driving along Besom Lane a few days after collecting the waste, when he saw some litter, including a mattress, dumped in a lay-by on the side of the road. He admitted dumping the Yate residents’ waste there as well.

If you have unwanted goods and household or garden waste, you are advised either to dispose of it at no cost via the council's Sort It centres or to give it to an Environment Agency registered waste carrier. Otherwise you could be held liable if waste is subsequently fly tipped. There are some simple steps you can take:

• Ask for a copy of the company’s waste carrier registration certificate and ask where the waste is being taken. Legitimate firms will be happy to provide this information.
• Please do not be tempted to use people offering cheap waste clearance on sites such as Facebook and Gumtree unless you have confirmed that they are registered with the Environment Agency. You can check by calling the Environment Agency on 08708 506506 or by checking the public register of waste carriers. 
• Ask for a registered trading address and contact telephone number for the trader and get a receipt.

If you see illegal fly tipping, please report it using this online form or by contacting the Street Care helpdesk on 01454 868000 or streetcare@southglos.gov.uk

Fly tipping law has teeth - successful prosecution

South Glos has had its first successful fly tipping prosecution of the year, when a man from Winterbourne pleaded guilty to fly tipping, not having a waste carriers licence, no waste transfer note and failing to supply information relating to the vehicle used in committing the offence.  He was fined £183 and ordered to pay £380 costs and a victim surcharge of £20.

The offence took place at  the former community composting site at Shire Way, Yate. Over a period of years the site has been subject to numerous criminal offences of fly tipping either by commercial landscapers dumping their commercial green waste or builders and paving firms fly tipping increasingly significant amounts of builder’s rubble and waste at the site.

 Because of the abuse of the site increasing amounts of preventative measures have been put in place including CCTV and signage making it absolutely clear that the site is only for garden waste and any other waste will be seen as fly tipping and a criminal offence. Despite this fly tipping of all types of waste has continued at the site. The site has now ceased to operate.

A flatbed lorry fully laden with earth, mud and hard-core enter the car park and drive straight to the composting area. It dumped the spoil and drove off immediately, but not before a witness had noted the lorry registration number.

The owner failed to appear in court for his first hearing so a warrant for his arrest was issued by the court. He was subsequently arrested at his home address by police and attended Northavon Magistrates court on 22nd January, where he pleaded guilty to all charges.

So the law has some teeth, but when you add it up the lorry owner may still have made a profit. Perhaps he will be deterred from doing it again.

Great minds think alike... about rubbish!

A parliamentary posting from Steve Webb today "Stop the Drop" goes well with our post yesterday "We're planning to cause more fly-tipping, says council".

We're planning to cause more fly-tipping, says council

The latest edition of South Gloucestershire News says: "The council is getting tough on those who blight our landscape with fly tipping and litter... The amount of illegal dumping is expected to increase for a number of reasons. European rules make it increasingly difficult and expensive to dispose of waste legally. The council is also likely to have to introduce charges for every bulky waste collection soon, to raise income for other initiatives"

So the Tories are not only blaming litter on the EU, they're admitting that their new policies will increase fly-tipping.

At the moment households get one free collection of up to three bulky items free per year. This looks likely to be scrapped to save money, but they're planning to spend money on enforcement action against fly-tippers!

SG News quotes Cllr Heather Goddard, the executive member for community services, as saying "It is also widely recognised that areas where fly tipping takes place are much more likely to attract other forms of anti-social behaviour and crime, such as drug use, arson, flyposting, graffiti, littering and dog fouling"

And yet you're planning to do something that will increase these problems. Haven't you ever heard of tackling problems at source? Don't wait until the fly-tipping has already happened - make proper disposal the easy option!