Record-high level of fly-tipping in Dacorum - costing more than £60k to clean up

Dacorum faced a record level of fly-tipping last year, new figures reveal – which cost more than £60k to clean up.

And Dacorum Borough Council says the borough’s proximity to main roads make it attractive to fly-tippers – while it takes a “zero tolerance” approach to dealing with offenders.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs figures reveal there were 1,587 fly-tipping incidents in the year to March 2022 – up from 1,470 the year before and the highest figure since records began in 2012-13.

A significant amount of fly-tipping in the area last year was discovered on highways (45%) and on council land (39%).

Of the discarded waste, the largest proportion was household waste (54%) followed by construction, demolition, or excavation waste (9%).

The data also shows £62,832 was paid by councils on removing large incidents of fly-tipping in Dacorum.

The Defra figures show about 91,000 fixed penalty notices were issued across England in 2021-22, an increase of 58% from 2020-21.

And the number of court fines nearly tripled from just 621 in 2021-21 to 1,798 last year.

The value of all fines was £840,000 in 2021-22, more than doubling the £330,000 from the year before.

A Dacorum Borough Council spokesperson said: "2021-22 was another difficult year in relation to fly-tipping enforcement, not just in Dacorum but nationally. Dacorum is a beautiful borough with many lanes that wind through the countryside but is also close to several main road arteries such as the M1, M25 and A41. Unfortunately, this makes the borough attractive to fly-tippers.

“However, we continue to take a zero tolerance approach to environmental crime and in particular waste crime such as fly-tipping. Our Environmental Enforcement Officers work hard to assess and visit every reported incident of fly-tipping in the borough to evidence the fly-tipping and investigate, where possible, who was responsible for dumping it and/or where it has come from. Following the conclusion of any investigation, the enforcement team will issue Fixed Penalty Notices where possible, or collect evidence for a larger prosecution if necessary.

“If fly-tipping becomes a regular occurrence at a particular location then officers will assess whether to make it a fly-tipping hot spot and will then consider further targeted enforcement interventions such as extra patrols, signage and/or surveillance.

“In 2021-22, our Environmental Enforcement Team issued 59 waste crime Fixed Penalty Notices to offenders as well as taking a number of prosecutions for flytipping.

“We continue to be at the forefront in tackling waste crime in Hertfordshire, and this is testimony to the adaptability, innovation and hard work of the Environmental Enforcement Team.

“In comparison to the other nine local authorities in Hertfordshire, (according to the last four years of full data recording) Dacorum has issued a quarter of all recorded local authority fixed penalty notices in Hertfordshire. So far in 22-23, we have issued 32 fixed penalty notices for waste crime and successfully prosecuted 11 fly-tippers.”

Anyone who spots fly-tipping in Dacorum is encouraged to report it online.