Fly-tipping in Bedford surged by 43% during pandemic – costing the council £18k to clear up

More fly-tipped waste was discovered in Bedford last year, figures show, though fewer court fines were handed out.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs data shows 3,063 fly-tipping incidents were reported to Bedford Borough Council in 2020-21.

This was a 43 per cent increase on the 2,137 discoveries made the year before.

However, just one fine, a combined £200, resulting from a court conviction was issued in the area last year – down from two in 2019-20.

The council carried out 1,861 enforcement actions in 2020-21, including 65 fixed penalty notices.

Across England, a record 1.1 million incidents of rubbish dumped on highways and beauty spots were found in 2020-21, up from 980,000 the previous year.

But the number of court fines halved from 2,672 to just 1,313 – with their total value decreasing from £1.2 million to £440,000.

The reduction in enforcement was due to to staff shortages, staff being furloughed, and staff being redeployed.

The Country Land and Business Association (CLA), which represents rural businesses, said the vast majority of fly-tipping occurs on private land, which the figures do not cover.

Mark Tufnell, president of the CLA, said: “These figures do not tell the full story of this disgraceful behaviour which blights our beautiful countryside.

“Fly-tipping continues to wreck the lives of many of us living and working in the countryside – and significant progress needs to be made to stop it.

“It’s not just the odd bin bag but large household items, from unwanted sofas to broken washing machines, building materials and even asbestos being dumped across our countryside.”

Bedford saw 17.5 fly-tipping incidents per 1,000 people last year – which was below the average across England, of 20.1.

Household waste accounted for 2,181 (71 per cent) incidents last year, while 53 separate incidents were classed as large enough to fill a tipper lorry.

These cost the council £18,550 to clear up.

Sarah Lee, director of policy and campaigns at the Countryside Alliance, said: “From quiet rural lanes and farmers’ fields to bustling town centres and residential areas, fly-tipping continues to cause misery across the country.

“Lockdown and the subsequent closure of tips only exacerbated this situation and we would urge local authorities to think very carefully about preventing access to these facilities in future.”

The Government said the first national coronavirus lockdown impacted many local authorities’ recycling programmes, and that changes to household purchasing may also have driven the increased fly-tipping.

Resources and Waste Minister Jo Churchill said: “During the pandemic, local authorities faced an unprecedented challenge to keep rubbish collections running and civic amenity sites open, and the Government worked closely with them to maintain these critical public services.

“We have already given local authorities a range of powers to tackle fly-tipping and we are going further; strengthening powers to detect and prosecute waste criminals through the new Environment Act, consulting on introducing electronic waste tracking and reforming the licencing system."