Fly-tippers avoid fines despite new powers City council fails to give out any on-the-spot penalties
BIRMINGHAM City Council has failed to hand out a single on-the-spot fine to combat fly-tipping in the seven months since it was given new powers to combat the problem.
In May, local authorities were authorised to dole out penalties of between £150 and £400 to those caught dumping rubbish, as an alternative to prosecution.
Nationally, councils have issued hundreds of fines totalling more than £430,000.
But Birmingham has never used the power, according to data supplied under the Freedom of Information Act.
The authority said its policy was to pursue offenders through the courts, which has led to offenders being jailed, having a curfew imposed or fined.
In July, Premium Halal Meat & Poultry Ltd, based in Digbeth, was fined £24,000 at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court after a prosecution by the council. Waste including boxes, invoices and plastic packaging was found outside the firm’s site in Bissell Street.
Selly Oak Tyres was fined £9,000 in May after dumping rubbish in Selly Hill Road.
Two men were also jailed in March after dumping 15 sheep carcasses in Aston, along with household waste.
Ionut Muti and Augustin Dobre were sentenced to 11 months and six months respectively after being filmed on CCTV.
Birmingham was not alone in failing to use the new powers.
Of the 302 authorities with responsibility for tackling fly- tipping which responded to the Freedom of Information request, just 118 had handed out fixed penalty notices.
Local Government Association environment spokesman Martin Tett said many councils felt prosecution was more effective than on-the-spot fines.
He said: “At a time when councils face difficult choices about services in the light of reducing budgets, they are having to spend a vast amount each year on tackling litter and flytipping. This is money that would be better spent on vital services such as filling potholes and caring for the elderly.”
Mr Tett said the Government’s decision to bring in the fixed penalty notices, at the behest of the LGA, was “a big step in the right direction”, but more needed to be done to ensure swifter prosecutions in the courts.