Fly-tipper crackdown is off mark

Those who have seen their community blighted by flytippers will welcome the Government’s new clampdown on offenders.

Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom is pushing for legislation that will see those convicted of illegally dumping rubbish forced to clean up their own community.

There are few who will oppose the move.

What better sight for sore eyes than watching fly-tippers donning hivis vests, and marching through our streets picking up litter?

Recently we saw the Children’s Forest in Pennywell left strewn with DIY debris and a sofa dumped by litter louts.

There’s not a resident of that community who wouldn’t love to see the offenders named and shamed and then forced to clean up their mess.

Where the plan falls down is in the execution. The problem is not the punishment, it’s catching the offenders in the act in the first place.

Our councils are being forced to make cuts left, right and centre.

The result is not more park wardens and council officials in the community, but less.

While the punishment is welcome, the odds on catching offenders is greater than ever.

Rather than concentrating on the penalties imposed on fly-tippers, the Government would have been better employed investing money in catching the offenders in the first place.

Instead, the cuts imposed on our local authorities see bin collections under threat or hit with more public charges. The result is more fly-tipping!

While welcoming the move, there’s a feeling the odds on seeing offenders punished just got longer.