Only one person in Somerset has been prosecuted for fly-tipping in the last two years, Somerset Council has confirmed.
Enforcement action against fly-tipping fell under the responsibility of Somerset’s four district councils before they were abolished and replaced by Somerset Council in April 2023.
Nature minister Mary Creagh MP named and shamed three of the former districts in a recent parliamentary debate for having zero enforcement actions over the last financial year. They include the former Sedgemoor area which includes Burnham-On-Sea.
Somerset Council has confirmed it had overseen one successful prosecution since 2022, adding that it was hard to bring cases forward due to a lack of evidence and enforcement resources.
Ms Creagh – who represents the Coventry East constituency – made her comments during a Westminster debate dedicated to fly-tipping.
She named the following 13 local authorities who reported no cases of enforcement against fly-tipping in the last 12 months.
She said: “Fly-tipping is a crime that blights local communities and, indeed, poses a great difficulty to landowners.
Approaches to tackling fly-tipping change and need to be responsive to local needs.”
Sarah Dyke, the Liberal Democrat MP for Glastonbury and Somerton, said that many farmers in her constituency were put off reporting fly-tipping due to the “time-consuming” processes currently in place.
She said: “The Environment Agency found that 86 per cent of farmers have been affected by fly-tipping this year.”
“However, many of those incidents are not reported because the reporting process is time-consuming, confusing and frustrating, and it does not stack up for farmers to do it – so they clear the waste themselves.”
“Does the honourable member agree that a single reporting mechanism needs to be developed to help farmers and land managers?”
“A single mechanism should be in place so that a fly-tip should have to be reported only once.”
Somerset Council said it responded to all reports of fly-tipping across the county, but was unable to bring prosecutions in the vast majority of cases, notes the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
A council spokesperson said: “Fly-tipping is a crime punishable by fine or imprisonment. It is a threat to health, wildlife and Somerset’s landscape and environment.”
“We respond quickly to all reports of fly tipping, collecting the illegal waste as soon as possible.”
“In 2022-23 we saw one prosecution for fly tipping in Somerset. This was in the former Mendip District Council area.”
“Pursuing prosecutions for fly-tipping is very labour-intensive, requiring investigation and collation of evidence to a point where there is a realistic chance of prosecution. In most cases that evidence is not available.”
