Success in dealing with fly-tipping in the borough

Our Environmental Health team recently dealt with two reports of fly-tipping in the Ruxley Lane/Kingston Road area.

The first involved a number of bulky waste items left out in the service road behind the parade of shops on Kingston Road. Officers were given CCTV footage of the person responsible and door-to-door enquiries were made to the flats above the shops.

When the fly-tipper was found, they admitted that they had left the items in the service road saying they couldn’t transport the items to a waste disposal site and didn’t know of a business who could remove the items for them.

Officers told them about the council’s bulky waste collection service and gave advice about what to do with their waste, how they should be correctly disposing of it and the offences they could be committing if they didn’t.

A bulky waste collection appointment was booked and a Fixed Penalty Notice was issued for the fly-tipping.

The second case involved more fly-tipping and an abandoned truck. After speaking with local residents, businesses and visitors, our Environmental Health officers arranged for the discarded items and the abandoned vehicle to be removed. The truck has now been destroyed as no owner has come forward.

Fly-tips are an ongoing problem on this service road, and one fly-tip can encourage others to add to the waste, creating a greater problem. Our Environmental Health Enforcement Officers regularly visit this area to monitor for new fly-tips. They look for evidence within the waste to identify who may have committed the offence, so action can be taken against them. A good working relationship has been developed with some of the businesses and residents who use this service road, so they can advise of any new issues or incidents and provide evidence when they have it.

The Environmental Health team have put up fly-tipping signage in the service road to act as a warning to potential fly-tippers. The team are also looking at installing new, more visible CCTV cameras for a period of time to help collect evidence of offences being committed.