Shropshire fly-tipping cases top 1,000
Saturday 16th April 2011, 11:30AM BST.
More than 1,000 incidents of fly-tipping have been recorded in the Shropshire area in the past 12 months, latest figures reveal.
The revelation comes as council chiefs today announced a clampdown on illegal dumping, which they warned was blighting the county, endangering public health and increasing the risk of arson.
Bosses warned anybody found guilty of illegally dumping waste or rubbish would face an immediate fine.
Two fixed penalty notices have recently been issued for fly-tipping in Ditherington, Shrewsbury. Martin Taylor-Smith, Shropshire Council cabinet member responsible for street cleaning, said such offences were treated “very seriously”.
He said: “Everyone has a responsibility for the environment. Cleaning up fly-tipping costs us all. It is dangerous and potentially harmful to health and wildlife, can cause serious pollution, and attracts further fly-tipping and arson.”
Figures revealed 1,270 off- ences were recorded across the Shropshire Council area in the last financial year.
In October the Shropshire Star reported taxpayers had forked out almost £100,000 to cover the cost of removing items dumped in county str- eets. Figures released by the authority showed it cost it £88,839 to remove small it- ems and a further £7,168 for Veolia to move large items.
Councillor Alan Mosley, Shropshire councillor for Castlefields and Ditherington, said: “Fly-tipping is serious anti-social behaviour and I am delighted to support council officers in acting firmly when cases arise.”
Report fly-tipping on 0345 6789006.
By Sam Pinnington
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how about councils put out a number of skips per month to deter random fly tipping.
surely it must cost them less this way.even though they pay for the skip hire,they would save on man hours having to clean it up off the ground themselves & put it in skips.
the areas of tipping would look cleaner than crap all over the place & would save a few quid for the council in the long run just by less man hours wasted.
or a new bin per household for items that are unable to be mixed in with normal greybin or green bin rubbish.let’s face it everyhome has items from diy renovation that are not allowed in the normal bins we have now.
which leaves the poorer people with a choice of either saving up just to rent a skip,or fly tipping for free.
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I imagine that 99% of fly tips are by small businesses that don’t want to pay to dispose of rubbish. A new household bin wouldn’t help.
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If you want an extra bin you just phone the council and tell them you have lost your bin and the muppets just hand them out, seriously i’ve got 3, i know my nan’s got atleast 2 too
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Cases of fly-tipping will only increase if Shropshire Council starts charging a visiting fee for its Household Recycling Centres.
That is already happening in other parts of the UK. Cases of fly-tipping have soared in Somerset where a £2 charge per visit was introduced at the beginning of April.
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What, the council charge people for making the effort of driving their own rubbish to the tip ?
Some* councils are run by idiots, is all I can say.
*(Probably all)
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Maybe if the council didn’t make it difficult by making people apply for a permit to go to the tip or if they charged a little less for their own service for disposal of large goods, such as domestic appliances then there would be a lot less fly-tipping!
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You mean difficult in that they’re free and you can go the same day?
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Difficult, as when I arrived at Shrewsbury tip with garden refuse in a trailer, I was told I needed a permit for a trailer. Would they let me in, give me a permit there and then? No. Just abject argonence from the jobsworths, who clearly delight in being able to turn people away.
I had to apply to the council, and wait 2 weeks for the permit to be delivered.
Each visit to the tip, met by a jobsworth demanding to see a permit, they are so disaponited when I present it.
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i agree the permit scheme is just a job creation scheme for the council to employ more beaurocrats, at the expense of local traders and hard working self employed tradespeople (who incentently pay more tax than council tax)
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could this in any way i propose be linked to the fact that last year the council cut community skips where people could get rid of waste for free?
i think so
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Disgraceful, more should be done to prevent this at source by doing more monitoring of white van man budget builder type operations, back street garages and odd job men who are generally the culprits in these cases
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well if you’re so clued up Inspector Poirot, why don’t you do the right thing and keep an eye out for them..
Theres’ nothing irritates me more than some do-gooder demonising small traders trying to earn an honest living..
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Perhaps the ace detective can find out who’s aiding and abetting these swine by selling them white vans in the first place…..
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I should imagine that the few people that have been caught have been fined much more than the £100000 it cost to remove these items…. Actually no, they probably got fined next to nothing and continued to do it. Welcome to (once was) Great Britain!
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sounds shoking but i hink a bit of context would help here please – how does this compare to other areas e.g. herefordshire, worcestershire, telford, also is it going up or down compared to last year ?
1,000 sounds alot but is only 3 a day, that is probably not much compared to some areas, also whats being tipped, the scale of the issue is not just about quantity but also quality if its just a stray black sack it aint much bother but if its tonnes of hazardous chemicals and such then of course people should be locked up
i know in ireland the IRA are involved in this illegal trade and its big business for some dodgy criminal gangs so the police should get involved not leave it to toothless bodies like the council or environment agency
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well if they collected plastics properly in shropshire like they do in telford, powys and chester, then perhaps people wouldnt need to chuck it all over the countrysdie would they now, i hate the mess on roadsides but i think if the council collected it and recycled it properly that would remove the problem of flytipping
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So collecting ‘plastics’ would solve the issue of sofa/fridges/other furniture/trade waste etc etc being dumped how?
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i think the point is that most litter is plastic is it not? i think most fly tipping is also “littering” in effect is it not, only a very small proportion is the dumped sofas and larger items you describe, the legal definition of a fly tip can be a simple as an extra bag of rubbish left next to your bin
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I have to say that I live in rural shropshire and I have never seen any fly tipping in my life, i dont know where this goes on but having moved to the county from cheshire 5 years ago i must say i have never seen a cleaner place and I often see street sweepers out at 5 am cleaning so I cant complain I think they do a great job in the main keeping the area clean
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The vast majority of fly tipping is commercial waste from the building industry, garden clearances and house clearances. It is businesses avoiding land fill fees and dodgy rubbish clearance firms. Landlords, if you are looking to have a house cleared check that there is a valid waste transfer licence.
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OMG about a year ago to this day council bosses axe skip service —-> http://www.shropshirestar.com/latest/2010/04/01/civic-leaders-fury-over-skips/
to save a few quid, now they pay like 100 k in clean up costs, what a muppet duh they must be like well thick at maths init, this is like well simple to sort it out, u put a skip out and you dont get all that dumping init
i reckon some council people are fick
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These fly tippers that are trying to improve ditherington must be stopped. The council should be working with the police to use the full force of the law to prosecute offenders, CCTV should be utilised in the areas that fly tipping regularly occurs.
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“These fly tippers that are trying to improve ditherington”…..Did I read that right, or did you write it wrong?
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i have a good idea, maybe the council could put skips out for free waste disposal to prevent it, or maybe, they could have a truck go round regular in these rough spots like dithy and collect all the old broken prams, fridges etc, it could be called something like maybe Freddy the freighter????
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I would lock them up
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Interesting they quote the cost of removing this stuff but have they also factored in (another bill from veolia) which is to bury all this stuff in landfill too, so its probably double that price with landfill tax considered on top of this
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Bring it to Bridgnorth were having a nice new tip built on Faraday Drive.
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shropshire council is too soft
nice to hear a politican with backbone backing fines sadly the ruling cabinet though is U turn on u turn softies who dont want to upset people even if they are animals who dump stuff in shropshire
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