Council hands out £21k in fines to flytippers in Brighton and Hove

Brighton and Hove City Council issued the most fines for flytipping in England last year, according to new research.
By The Newsroom
Published 21st Mar 2017, 14:14 BST
Updated 8th Jun 2018, 03:40 BST

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Flytipping spots are now to become 'environmental crime scenes' in Brighton and Hove SUS-170703-163212001Flytipping spots are now to become 'environmental crime scenes' in Brighton and Hove SUS-170703-163212001
Flytipping spots are now to become 'environmental crime scenes' in Brighton and Hove SUS-170703-163212001

Furniture Choice, an online furniture retailer, submitted Freedom of Information requests to major councils across England, to establish if they have been utilising new powers to issue fixed penalty notices for small-scale fly-tipping offences.

The data revealed that Brighton and Hove City Council had issued considerably more fines than any other local authority, with 105 fixed penalty notices given out in 2015/16.

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The council brought in £21,000 in income from the fines. The second council on the list was Brent in London, which handed out almost half the amount; 59 fines.

Cllr Gill Mitchell SUS-161121-195643001Cllr Gill Mitchell SUS-161121-195643001
Cllr Gill Mitchell SUS-161121-195643001

Brighton and Hove City Council has installed CCTV in flytipping ‘hotspots’, and is using ‘environmental crime scene’ tape to deter flytippers.

Cllr Gill Mitchell, the chairman of the council’s environment committee, said: “We are committed to reducing the blight of fly-tipping and are taking a much tougher approach so it is pleasing to see that we have issued the highest number of fixed penalty notices since last May. Our ‘Crime not to Care’ campaign in conjunction with Keep Britain Tidy has won huge support from residents and on just one day this week we marked 11 fly-tips with our environmental crime scene tape and handed leaflets to local residents reminding them that it is a crime to dump rubbish on the city’s pavements and asking for their support in reporting it.”

Tom Obbard, director at Furniture Choice, said: “Flytipping causes a devastating impact on the environment and is expensive to clear, so it is a major concern that incidents are increasing in England.

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“It is great to see that some councils are exercising their new legislative powers and issuing fixed penalty notices for fly-tipping, as hopefully it will deter people from committing the offence. However, more needs to be done on encouraging people to use recycling and donation sites instead of illegally discarding their waste.”

Furniture Choice has created an online tool populated with more than 800 furniture recycling and donation centres across the UK, which helps people identify their nearest location in which to take their unwanted furniture and white goods.

For more information on the Furniture Choice recycling tool visit: www.furniturechoice.co.uk/recycling-tool/

Related topics:CouncilBrightonHoveEnglandKeep Britain Tidy