Huge rise in lockdown fly-tipping in Boston district

Fly-tipping has more than doubled in Boston during the lockdown period, a report going before councillors today will reveal.
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Boston Council is now planning a crackdown on offenders and is looking at using CCTV surveillance among other measures to tackle those who continue to flout the law.

The report to today’s cabinet meeting also praises the big increase in collection rates, with more than 99 per cent of all fly-tipping reported being removed within two days.

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The figures to be presented to cabinet show that there were 549 reports of fly-tipping in the borough between March and August in 2019 – this year, that figure has soared to 1,280.

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The vast majority of those incidents have involved domestic black bags or other household waste, although virtually all areas have shown an increase.

Although some are blaming the lockdown and closure of tips, the council’s leader says there is no excuse for this sort of behaviour.

Coun Paul Skinner said: “I think some people are taking the easy route and saying ‘not on my property’ after the county had to close its site.

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“But there is no excuse for people dumping rubbish in our streets and our countryside. It’s just abhorrent to me.”

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He said if they could, the council would not hesitate to prosecute offenders. Jen Moore, the authority’s environmental supervisor, confirmed that the council is now ready to get tough on fly-tippers.

She said: “We’re working with a company that is hoping to put mobile CCTV up around the borough, especially in the hot spots.

“Hopefully that will make a big difference and we’ll be able to find out exactly who is dumping this stuff.”

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Since Local Authority Support took over the contract to enforce fly-tipping for the council in September last year, there have been 179 fixed penalty notices (FPNs) issued for fly-tipping, with a combined value of £43,400.

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The report to councillors says: “Members are aware from previous reports of the increase in fly-tipping what we are dealing with and unfortunately this ugly trend is continuing as we emerge from lockdown.

“Black bag domestic waste and other household waste are the two categories seeing the biggest increase, with green, white goods, other electrical and construction waste categories all up significantly on last year.”

The report goes on to say that it is “pleasing to note, however, that our dedicated flyswat service is achieving brilliant results in terms of collection rates – averaging consistently collection rates of 98.4 per cent within two working days.”

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Councillors will be told that actions underway to tackle the increase include an overt surveillance contractor engaged to commence surveillance of fly-tipping hotspots from this month.

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The report also talks about LAS Enforcement capability focusing on fly-tipping offences, and a social media messaging campaign co-ordinated across the county.

It also talks about work being done with the Lincolnshire Waste Partnership to analyse data and develop multi-disciplinary interventions such as days of action.

And it states that the council’s scrutiny committee will engage with the county council to investigate the impact of post pandemic HWRC policy on local fly-tipping.

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“Our main focus is to keep up with the collection rates being at a high where we are collecting within two days of reporting,” the report states. “We need to push out the concerns around fly-tipping and the implications of this.”