Green waste fly-tipper hit with fixed penalty notice
A £400 fixed penalty notice was issued to a resident from Market Lavington who was spotted fly-tipping green waste
A resident from Market Lavington who was spotted fly-tipping grass cuttings and other green waste on a public byway has been issued with a £400 fixed penalty notice (FPN) by Wiltshire Council.
Environmental Enforcement Officers from the council were alerted to the incident and were shown photos of the person taking a green wheelie bin out from the rear of a car and emptying its contents on to a public byway near Market Lavington.
The person was challenged by a member of the public about fly-tipping, and as a result he returned to clear the waste. The incident was then reported to the council and the person responsible, who cannot be named, was traced and fined by Environmental Enforcement Officers.
The witness, who captured the incident on camera and reported it to the council was rewarded with a £100 voucher for assisting with the successful FPN notice, as part of the council's We're Targeting Fly-tippers campaign. The campaign rewards witnesses that provide the council with information that leads to a successful prosecution or issuing of an FPN.
Cllr Dr Mark McClelland, Cabinet Member for Waste, said: We are committed to cracking down on waste crimes like fly-tipping, and we'll continue to use the powers available to us to bring the perpetrators to account.
The dumping of green waste like grass cuttings and hedge trimmings may seem innocuous to some but it can cause issues for motorists, passers-by and the environment - and the clean-up costs are no less than household waste.
Fly-tipping costs us more than £100,000 each year to clean-up and is a significant blight on our local environment. I'd like to thank the person that captured the details in this case and gave us the vital information that led to the culprit being caught.
Our dedicated team of Environmental Enforcement Officers will continue to do all they can to track down and take action against fly-tippers in Wiltshire.
The FPN for fly tipping was introduced in 2016 to allow local authorities in England to issue a £400 fine for small scale fly-tipping offences. Dealing with smaller fly-tips by way of FPNs avoids long, drawn out prosecutions at significant cost. Once a fixed penalty is issued, the recipients cannot be named as it is not a conviction in court.
To find out more about the We're Targeting Fly-tippers campaign, people should go to Fly-tipping.