Since being elected I have had a steady stream of complaints to my office about the prevalence of fly tipping on farmland and country roads across my Brentwood and Ongar constituency.
Farms have been in touch pointing out they have to bear the cost of disposing of domestic and DIY waste, including asbestos tiles and roofing, which has been dumped on their land in the dead of night. Others have reported seeing tipper trucks blatantly tipping waste in country lanes.
The residents of Navestock even set up a group to automatically send all reports of fly tipping to me, the local councillors and the police.
It’s an issue I have raised with the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex, Roger Hirst, and Ministers with the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and I am very pleased the Government has now brought in additional measures to tackle fly tipping and make waste disposal easier.
It is important local people can dispose of their waste in a responsible and convenient manner. A DIY charging consultation will explore and ensure that charging arrangements in the Controlled Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2012 are clear, especially in relation to waste arising from small scale DIY activities carried out by ordinary householders with no specialist skills, which we have been clear should not be charged for.
The Government banned backdoor charges on local residents disposing of household rubbish at household waste centres in 2015 and since then guidance has made clear that this includes DIY household waste. Here in Brentwood, local residents can dispose of limited amounts of DIY and construction waste for free, providing you have completed the work yourself and it is from your own household.
The Government’s latest measures also build on our commitments earlier this year to help clamp down on waste crime and support people and businesses to manage waste correctly. Proposals include a reform of the Carrier, Broker and Dealer regime to increase competence and background checks needed to operate as a waste carrier, broker or dealer, and make it easier for regulators to enforce against non-compliant operators whilst making it harder for un-registered operators to find work in the sector. The government is also planning to introduce mandatory digital waste tracking, which will enable regulators to better detect illegal activity and tackle waste crime, including fly tipping, illegal waste sites and illegal waste exports.
I will monitor how these measures affect the blight of fly tipping and make it possible to dispose of difficult items more easily, but please keep letting me know if your area is affected by this anti-social behaviour.
