‘Stoke-on-Trent is a no-go zone for fly-tipping’.
Under a new administration Stoke-on-Trent City Council has sent a clear and simple message to the residents of Stoke-on-Trent ‘Stoke-on-Trent is a no-go zone for fly-tipping’.
Clearing fly-tipping comes at a cost to the taxpayer, and this year alone, the city council has already spent circa £120,000 on moving 1500 tonnes. This is using vital public funds that could be better spent on other areas. Between April and May of this year, taxpayers footed the bill of £120,000 to clear up fly-tipping. Stoke-on-Trent City Council, like you, feels this £120k could be better spent elsewhere.
For example, £23k could provide 4600 hot meals for disadvantaged children as part of our ‘holidays and activities programme’.
In that same time frame,(April – May) 207 fixed penalty notices were issued, this is a stark increase from 132 fixed penalty notices for the same period in 2022. Fixed Penalty Notices are £400.
Councillor Amjid Wazir, cabinet member for environment and enforcement, alongside ward Councillor Majid Khan, and cabinet support, Councillor Finlay Gordon-McCusker, joined teams from the Environment Crime Unit and street cleaning, in the hotspot area of Argyle Street on Tuesday 30 May. They got to see teams in action, who were searching the dumped waste for evidence of the owner and then the clean-up operations.
Councillor Amjid Wazir, cabinet member for environment and enforcement said: “We want residents to take pride in where they live. We will be communicating with residents in problem areas to advise on how they can dispose of their household waste efficiently. We will be moving away from the ‘council will just pick this up’ attitude. We have two household waste and recycling centres open in the city, each for 35 hours per week
“We also want residents to know, ‘We hear you’, we understand the issues you face and we are working hard to change some processes to allow waste disposal to be more flexible and achievable. Let’s make Stoke-on-Trent the beautiful, clean and vibrant place it once was, starting with our local neighbourhoods. Let’s work together to catch the culprits and bin fly-tipping.”
Positive steps are already being taken to ensure fly-tipping is top of the agenda, including successfully securing funding to employ three part-time enforcement staff, who will support the Environmental Crime Unit in ensuring culprits are prosecuted. Through external funding enforcement staff will increase from four to seven and an additional five deployment CCTV cameras will be across the city to encourage fly-tippers to do the ethical and environmentally friendly way of getting rid of waste.
Households and businesses have a legal responsibility to make sure that the person taking their waste has a ‘Waste Carriage Licence’. This must be up to date and checked on the Environment Agency website. Residents are reminded to only use a reputable and fully licenced business when sourcing someone to remove waste. Householders will be liable if evidence of the fly-tipped rubbish can be traced back to them, and they will face a fixed penalty notice or prosecution. Failure to use an authorised service is a criminal offence.
The message remains clear, residents are urged to report any vehicle or persons acting suspiciously and to take note of any vehicle registrations and descriptions of the individuals and report them to the Environmental Crime Unit. Reports can be made here: https://www.stoke.gov.uk/info/20050/problems_in_my_neighbourhood/604/fly-tipping
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