Big decrease in flytipping in Caerphilly borough (From Campaign Series)

Big decrease in flytipping in Caerphilly borough

12:54pm Tuesday 28th August 2012 in Campaign news

FLY-TIPPING has decreased in Gwent, according to new figures, with one council seeing a massive decrease in the number of recorded incidents.

In the year 2011/12 there were 4,724 recorded incidents, down from 6,571 in 2010/11, statistics from the Welsh Government show.

In Caerphilly borough, the number of incidents fell from 2,680 to 1,618. Newport also saw a big fall, from 2,648 to 2,014 The county borough handed out more fixed penalty notices for the offence than any other Gwent council – 189 in 2011/12, compared to six in Torfaen and none in the rest.

Meanwhile there were 22 prosecutions for the offence across Gwent. There were 11 in Blaenau Gwent, nine in Caerphilly and two in Torfaen.

Caerphilly council cabinet member for community and leisure services, David Poole, commended the reduction of incidents in the Caerphilly county and said it reflected the hard work its officers have done in raising awareness and educating residents on the environmental impact of fly-tipping.

He said: “As a council, we take environmental issues including fly-tipping very seriously and have resourced our intervention policies accordingly to allow us to deal effectively with these issues when they arise”.

The cabinet member said all alleged incidents were investigated by enforcement officers.

A Monmouthshire spokesman said the council responds quickly to complaints of fly-tipping complaints. He said the authority was working to put up no fly tipping signs, sponsored by the Welsh Government, as well as new covert cameras.

A spokeswoman for Newport council, said: "Since the introduction of Streetscene, the council has reduced fly tipping in Newport by promoting education into good recycling and waste minimisation practices, improving services and better partnership working with agencies such as Newport Wastesavers and housing associations.

“Council staff have successfully tackled this issue together with the projects being implemented in city wards which are aimed at increasing awareness and encouraging residents to participate in providing a cleaner environment.

“Improved enforcement has also contributed to the reduction in fly tipping with multi-agency operations being regularly undertaken with Gwent Police to ensure compliance to licence regulations.” The figures were: Caerphilly - 2680 (2010-11), 1618 (2011-12); Blaenau Gwent - 237 (2010-11), 177 (2011-12); Torfaen - 361 (2010-11), 316 (2011-12); Monmouthshire - 645 (2010-11), 599 (2011-12); Newport - 2648 (2010-11); 2014 (2011-12); Gwent - 6571 (2010-11), 4724 (2011-12); Wales - 41750 (2010-11), 36411 (2011-12).