FLY-TIPPING SURGES UNDER LOCKDOWN
‘Problem across the borough’ as cases have risen more than 50 per cent in past year
FLY-TIPPING has surged in Hinckley and Bosworth since the coronavirus restrictions began, with incidents in 2020 costing taxpayers more than £50,000.
Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council dealt with 1,082 cases last year, up more than 50 per cent from 702 cases in 2019.
The bill for 2020 fly-tips was £54,600, up more than £19,000 from the previous year’s £35,570.
A council spokeswoman said: “Fly tipping is a problem across the borough. Laybys, recycling banks and country lanes are a particular problem, but it happens everywhere.”
Incidents more than doubled in August and September compared with 2019, with September having 125 cases, the most of any month in 2020.
There were also more than 100 incidents each in June and July, costing a total of £11,200 to clean up.
The only month when comparitive cases did not rise was in March, the month that the first coronavirus lockdown began, when the total fell from 77 to 47.
The council issued seven fines in April after rubbish was dumped on the ground by an overflowing recycling point in Hinckley town centre.
The waste services in the borough
were reduced when the restrictions came in towards the end of March, with garden waste collections resuming in april and bulky waste collections in early May.
large rural fly-tips in 2020 included one at the entrance to a field off Bosworth Road, near Kirkby Mallory, and two piles in Watery Gate lane, near earl Shilton, which together cost £3,400 to clear up.
incidents have continued to plague the borough in the first weeks of 2021, with a large pile of household waste including asbestos dumped by Kirkby Road, near Barwell, on January 14.
The household tips operated by leicestershire County Council are all open, and visits must be booked.
The borough council can also collect large items such as unwanted furniture and household appliances.
one to three items costs £15, four or five items costs £25, with concessions available.
Visit the Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council website for more information.