Farming Talk: High cost of fly-tipping to landowners

A new report reveals that fly-tipping is on the up with farmers increasingly being burdened with costs of up to £1,200 to clear up the mess.

A study by the NFU, released as Defra held a fly-tipping summit, counted 168 incidents this year – an increase of 45 per cent. Clearance costs members anything up to £1,200, with an average of £170.

Household waste represents over half of what is tipped and data suggests there may be a growing trend in opportunistic fly-tipping, possibly as a result of increased fees at licensed sites, or changes to their opening hours.

Our members rightly feel they are the victims of this growing trend, which costs both time and money.

It is incredibly unfair that the responsibility of clearing up after those who are flouting the law lies solely with landowners.

We hope this report and the summit will start the ball rolling in ensuring our members, and other private landowners, get a fair deal. If they do have to clean up after those who have no respect for the countryside whatsoever, there should be a support mechanism in place so that they can deal with the problem with minimal disruption and cost. We aren’t asking for much, but now is the time to act.

We would prefer to see a change in legislation to remove the legal responsibility for landowners to deal with fly-tipping on their land. However, it is recognised that in the current economic and political climate, a change in legislation isn’t the solution for Government as it would place the burden on local authorities. We’re asking for:

• Shared solution to reduce the burden on private landowners and help them to deal with fly-tipping. Landowners who clear tips and transport the waste to a local authority disposal site should be provided with a free of charge disposal for the fly-tipped waste
• Local authorities to recognise that their own waste policies can have an impact on the amount of fly-tipping in a local area, so they should be part of the solution too – regardless of whether the land is private or public
• The FlyCapture database to be used to record fly-tipping incidents, including those on private land.

The data would be used to monitor progress, assess trends and investigate the impact of waste policies.

Nicola Dunn is NFU environment policy adviser