MPs say Defra “not doing enough” to help local authorities tackle fly-tipping
The Public Accounts Committee has called on the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) to work with local authorities to set a national framework for tackling fly-tipping.
In a report published today, the committee made the recommendation after concluding that Defra "is not doing enough" to support local authorities in tackling fly-tipping.
The recommendation came as part of a report into the progress of the Resources and Waste Strategy, which set out plans to eradicate all waste crime in England by 2043. Four years on from its adoption, just three of the fourteen actions set out in the strategy have been implemented, the committee noted.
Commenting on fly-tipping in particular, the committee said: "Defra is adamant that it is the responsibility of local authorities to tackle fly-tipping, supported by guidance and powers to impose sanctions that Defra develops and provides.
"Yet local authorities' clear duty is to clear fly-tipped waste from land it controls, while investigating fly-tipping or tackling the perpetrators are choices constrained by local authorities' limited resources; different local authorities show highly variable practice."
The report also criticised how Defra distributed funding for its work on a fly-tipping toolkit for councils announced in 2018. It suggested that grants worth between £25,000 and £50,000 given to eleven local authorities may have been awarded to councils with the "most capacity to bid rather than the best ideas".
In light of the findings, the committee recommended that Defra work with local authorities to set a clear national framework for tackling fly-tipping to set overall expectations and promote good practice "while allowing local authorities the flexibility to respond to local circumstances".
The committee also said that official data fail to capture the true scale and impact of all waste crime, "and government initiatives do not amount to a convincing overall plan to address this".
To tackle this issue, the committee recommended that Defra and the Environment Agency explore potential solutions to data weaknesses, including satellite technology, ensuring successful delivery of existing initiatives to improve data. Where these initiatives rely on public reporting, "there should be appropriate capacity to follow up reported incidents", the committee added.
The report also encouraged Defra, the Environment Agency and HMRC to work with relevant bodies within the criminal justice system to develop a plan for making enforcement more effective across the full spectrum of waste crime. "This should include how to speed the process up and consideration of whether the sentencing guidelines need strengthening."
Dame Meg Hillier MP, Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, said: “Currently the Department’s approach to large parts of waste crime is closer to decriminalisation. Targets become meaningless – rubbish, you might say – when there isn’t even a strategy for achieving them, much less any indication or measurement of progress. Sadly, all the signs four years into a 25 year target period are that the problem is getting worse.”
Adam Carey
