Reprisal fears holding up fly-tipping investigations
FEAR of reprisals for reporting neighbours who dump rubbish is one of the main reasons flytipping investigations are being held back in Halton, a council division boss has said.
The issue was listed alongside other obstacles to prosecution including obtaining definitive proof and the pressures of the pandemic following a request from the Weekly News for any insights into the challenges of bringing culprits to book.
According to figures published by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra), there were 559 fly-tipping incidents in Halton in 2020-21, with 633 actions taken by Halton Borough Council.
About 80% of actions (502) resulted in warning letters being sent.
The main places targeted were back alleys (41%), footpaths and bridleways (21%), council land (18%), and highways (13%).
Most involved bin bags or other household waste (76%), while 32 incidents (5.7%) were white goods, and there were rarer types of dumping including two chemical or fuel drum incidents and one of clinical waste.
In most cases - 502 instances in all - the local authority sent a warning letter, equating to about 80% of the time.
This compared to 14 fixed penalty notices (FPNs) issued in total including for household failures of duty of care.
There were zero fines, zero stop and search actions, zero formal cautions and no vehicles seized despite nearly half of the dumped waste incidents (263) being classed as “small van loads”.
This was all against the backdrop of the pandemic and the constraints of public contact plus staff absence and isolation.
Jimmy Unsworth, Halton Council’s divisional manager for environmental services, said Covid-19 has had a “huge impact” on the local authority’s ability to crack down on flytippers and in particular carry out face-to-face enforcement.
He said: “There is no doubt that restrictions implemented during the pandemic had a huge impact on our enforcement activity and the way in which we were able to deliver the council’s enforcement service.
“This resulted in an inability to carry out enforcement patrols, undertake face-to-face enforcement activity and carry out face to face PACE (Police and Criminal Evidence Act) interviews under caution.”
More perennial challenges are obtaining definitive evidence because even an addressed bill in a bin bag only proves where the rubbish originated, not how it got there, and neighbours who are reluctant to speak out against other residents for fear of reprisals, with Mr Unsworth noting that back-alley fly-tipping comprising 41% of incidents, making it the cause.
He said any action has to be “proportionate”, and this results in many cases with warning letters.
He said: “There are different circumstances for which we issue warning letters, for example, some are issued as a result of an investigation coming to its conclusion, and where, a formal warning was considered the most appropriate form of action.
“Some letters are issued for main small-scale depositing of waste items behind resident’s properties and giving them the opportunity to remove the waste in order to remedy the situation. “Others are issued to residents in a particular problematic area to advise that if resident behaviour does not improve then formal enforcement action may be taken.
“I would advise that we always ensure that each individual case is judged on its own merits and a decision taken on whether to send an appropriate warning letter to the individual(s) concerned or whether formal enforcement action should be pursued.”
Mr Unsworth stressed the council will always pursue formal enforcement for large scale fly-tipping or “blatant, deliberate or persistent waste related offences” but this depended on the evidence available, and any witnesses willing to provide a statement.
He said: “Clear evidence of an offence being committed, such as but not limited to, CCTV footage, is key to securing a successful prosecution for environmental offences and a lack of such evidence is the key challenge that we face.
“The other main challenge that we face is a lack of witnesses or witnesses who are prepared to provide a written statement for what they have observed.
“As the figures suggest, the most frequent location for flytipping in Halton is back alleyways.
“Unfortunately, a name and address found amongst waste is not sufficient evidence in itself to an offence being committed and merely demonstrates where the waste has originated from and not how it got there.
“Neighbouring properties who may have information are often reluctant to formally provide any information due to a fear of repercussions.
“Where it is considered that there is a lack of evidence to ensure a successful conviction in court for an incident that the council considers justifies such pursuit, then a warning letter may be issued as an alternative.”
Report fly-tipping to the council at halton.gov.uk or by calling 0303 333 4300.