The Welsh branch of the National Farmers Union (NFU Cymru) has called for a statutory duty to be placed on local authorities to investigate fly-tipping incidents on both public and private land so that the extent of the problem can be better understood.
The call was made in response to the Welsh Government's recent consultation on the country’s new fly-tipping strategy. NFU Cymru has welcomed the commitment from Welsh Government to tackle the issue, but believes more could be done.
‘A Fly-tipping Free Wales’
The draft strategy, ‘A Fly-tipping Free Wales’, outlines how the Welsh Government will work in partnership with organisations including Natural Resource Wales (NRW), the police, fire service, housing associations and local authorities to reduce incidences of illegal and unauthorised waste disposal.
According to the Welsh Government, during 2012/13, there were over 34,000 reported incidents of fly-tipping, which cost the Welsh taxpayer £1.9 million to clear up.
As such, NFU Cymru is calling for more practical actions to support the farming industry to cope with fly-tipping incidents, such as: helping farmers remove waste without adding costs to their business; improving the system for reporting and monitoring incidents; and removing of the requirement for farmers to register with NRW as a waste carrier to dispose of fly-tipped waste.
“The current rate of prosecution is abysmally low”
NFU Cymru’s Rural Affairs Board Chairman, Bernard Llewellyn, said: “Fly-tipping is an issue that impacts on the lives and businesses of many farmers in Wales and we believe it is wholly unfair that farmers have to clear up the mess and pick up the bill for waste illegally dumped on their land.
“The current rate of prosecution is abysmally low for this offence and until there is a statutory duty placed on local authorities to investigate fly-tipping and higher rates of prosecution are achieved then, we believe, there will be no deterrent to prevent others taking similar action.”
The new strategy is just part of Welsh Government’s work to tackle fly-tipping - in August it announced a fund of £2.2 million to help 74 community projects clear litter and ‘tidy’ their local area. More than half (£1.2 million) of this was allocated to local authority-led projects and £260,000 was given to community-led projects. Another £35,000 has been provided to each of Wales’ local authorities to remove litter and improve the quality of local environments.
Read the draft strategy ‘A Fly-tipping Free Wales’.
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