FEWER than one in 100 incidents of fly-tipping in Wokingham have been successfully prosecuted since 2019, writes Grant Williams, local democracy reporter.
Of the 5,205 cases in the borough over the past three years, just 45 fixed penalty notices have been issued and paid – a total of 0.9%
Incidents have fallen since a record high of 2,324 in 2020 during the pandemic when the re3 recycling sites were closed for a period.
But the number of cases since April 2021 has increased by 22% on 2019’s figures.
This is an average of 145 incidents per month for the last three years. No data is held prior to 2019, according to Wokingham Borough Council.
The data shows that Grazeley Road in Grazeley has seen the greatest number of successful prosecutions, with four being made since 2019.
One incident in November saw a £400 fixed-penalty issued – the highest on-the-spot fine possible.
In another case, Heathlands Road was rendered impassable after scrap, including a sofa, was dumped there in November last year.
Figures from a freedom of information request submitted by the local democracy reporting service revealed that in 2021 the council spent £22,500 removing discarded rubbish.
Of this, £14,400 was spent cleaning up waste in 27 individual incidents, and £8,100 spent to clear 52 cases of waste dumped by tipper lorries.
Offenders can be taken to court, which could lead to a £400 fine or 12 months’ imprisonment if convicted in a Magistrates’ Court or an unlimited fine and/or up to five years imprisonment if convicted in a Crown Court.
Fly-tipping is classified as the illegal dumping of any waste or rubbish on public land or sites which are unauthorised to accept waste.
The most common type of fly-tipped waste found in Wokingham is household waste, followed by construction waste – with most cases in Wokingham being found on roads and country lanes.
The council has pledged to crack down on the behaviour since 2020, culminating in returning public protection services to an inhouse team from Friday last week.
The new service is responsible for dealing with issues that affect residents’ quality of life – such as fly-tipping – and other anti-social behaviour.
The executive member for neighbourhoods and communities, Cllr Bill Soane, said the team will be “proactive” and patrol known trouble hot spots to “stop problems before they happen”.
According to fixmystreet.co.uk, there are still 108 ‘open’ cases of fly-tipping in the borough, dating back to April 2021.
