Lincolnshire County Council denies rise in flytippers

Councillors discussing the latest performance of services under the Lincolnshire Waste Partnership, also called on courts to take the issue more seriously.

Boston Councillor Deborah Evans was adamant the two-day closure of the HWRCs and disruption at the facilities was compounding the fly-tipping issue.

She invited members on a walk-about saying “I can show you quite a few answers to some of the issues which are really on the ground”.

She pointed to an upcoming meeting between Frampton Parish Council and Councillor Danny McNally, LCC’s executive portfolio holder for waste.

“They absolutely believe that all the fly-tipping happening around that area is because of the tip being closed or turning away people who have taken household waste, gone back a second week and been turned away again and the third week again.”

She said she had spoken to Boston’s 115-strong litter-picking Wombles group and employees on the ground.

“They have told me that they see it gets tipped, and it gets tipped several times, because people are turned away in cars full of garden waste… or because the queues are so long and people can’t wait anymore.”

“Unfortunately, people feel like they’re protesting especially if they’ve been a couple of times they don’t feel like they’re breaking the law,” she added.

“They think they’ve done everything… so there is an element of a new form of protest.”

Lincolnshire County Council’s Waste Services Lead Mike Reed, however, said there was no evidence to suggest the link between the HWRCs and fly-tipping.

He said there had been a rise nationally, and that most of the fly-tipping was done by “commercial” people, many of which advertised on Facebook, often without a licence.

He said fly-tipping was breaking the law, and should be reported.

“You don’t go to a shop that’s closed and just help yourself, just smash a window and help yourself to the goods anyway. You go away, you organise yourself to be there at an appropriate time,” he said.

At the same meeting, councillors voted not to reduce targets as requested by officers with one councillor asking what the point would be in having a goal they knew was achievable.

Reports before the authority’s Lincolnshire Waste Partnership next Monday show that from 2019/20 overall recycling rates across both tips and kerbside collections dropped from 45.4% to 41.5% in 2021/22.

This is despite the authority having a target of 48% by the most recent year. For 2022/23 the target was 50% – around 1,075kg of waste per household.