£10 TIPPING POINT

Fury as councils bring in charges for local dumps

FAMILIES face charges of up to £10 a time to get rid of building and garden waste – despite government promises to ban fees.

Anti-litter campaigners and farmers fear the move will increase fly-tipping across the country.

Under a shake-up of litter laws, ministers have announced bigger fines for fly-tippers and guidance to local councils that they shouldn’t charge for recycling.

But cash-strapped town halls have warned that community recycling centres could be forced to cut opening hours or even close if they don’t bring in fees. Many councils, including Surrey and Dorset, already charge for the service. In Oxfordshire, residents will pay from £1.50 for a bag of soil to £10 for a sheet of plasterboard from next month.

Local National Farmers’ Union chairman Jeff Powell said: “Farmers have already seen an increase in flytipping and this is bound to make the situation worse.” Keep Britain Tidy has warned that Britain is in the grip of a fly-tipping “epidemic”.

Last year there were nearly one million fly-tipping cases – a four per cent increase on the previous 12 months – which cost nearly £50million to clear up. The Sunday Mirror’s Keep it Clean campaign has backed Keep Britain Tidy’s calls for a Minister for Litter, better enforcement and tougher penalties.

Martin Tett, of the Local Government Association, said: “Some councils have introduced charges to reflect growing costs, and this money goes back into maintaining services.”