Fines for fly-tippers in Atherstone and North Warwickshire set to double

Fines for individuals caught fly-tipping in North Warwickshire are to double, bringing the punishment in line with businesses.

The decision, approved by members of the borough council's community and environment board meeting this week means a £400 fine will be imposed – a measure which councillors hope will halt the recent increase in incidents.

Council officers are also in talks with their counterparts at Warwickshire County Council about improving access to the area's household waste recycling centres.

Figures show a 25 per cent increase in fly-tipping cases around the borough from April to December last year with 1,055 incidents reported.

And those figures have shot up again since Christmas according to Richard Dobbs, North Warwickshire Borough Council's corporate director for streetscape.

He said: "We have seen an enormous spike in fly-tipping, not just in this borough but up and down the country over the last two or three weeks following the Christmas period.

"So we are talking to our colleagues at the county about whether there is any correlation between accessibility to the household waste recycling centres and that increase.

"It isn't solely down to that, you have to be in that mindset that it is acceptable to go out and fly-tip waste, but clearly the easier we can make it for people to do the right thing with their waste the better it is all round."

Mr Dobbs suggested that as well as booking a slot at the centres, it might be possible for people to be able to just turn up at certain times, though he admitted that this would need to be controlled to stop queues forming.

Cllr Marian Humphreys (Con, Newton Regis and Walton) asked if anything could be done to help the many farmers who had rubbish ripped on their land and then faced a bill for clearing up.

But Mr Dobbs admitted that the council could not take the waste away without a cost.

He added: "This is a big issue for farmers as more fly-tipping occurs on private land than public land. So in an area like ours, farmers and landowners are the recipients of a lot of that.

"We are working with Warwickshire Police and their rural crime team is keen to work with landowners and investigate.

"We will look at putting up notices and covert surveillance even if it is not on public land so we do try and work with those parties."

Councillors agreed to raise the fixed penalty fine for individuals to £400 and also asked for a report that would consider the use of community skips and also whether the council could remove single bulky household items. Residents currently pay for five items to be taken away.