One in 200 flytippers face court in N.Wales

FIGURES SHOW TWO COUNTIES DIDN’T PROSECUTE ANYONE IN WHOLE YEAR

THERE were nearly 6,000 fly-tipping incidents across North Wales in 2014/15, but less than 1% of cases were successfully prosecuted, according to new figures.

The majority of the 31 prosecutions across North Wales were by Wrexham Council who successfully prosecuted 27 people. The authority recorded only 235 flytipping incidents during the same period – the lowest by far in Wales.

Cllr David A Bithell, Wrexham’s lead member for place, environment and transport, said: “We do have a smaller percentage than others, however, we have experienced some continued problems in recent months.

“We have zero tolerance to litter and dog fouling, and the same applies to fly tipping.

“We want clean and green areas and people need to take responsibility for their actions; dumping litter or fly-tipping is not acceptable and we will take appropriate action where necessary.”

Although Anglesey suffered the worst than any North Wales authority with 1,767 fly-tipping incidents in 2014/15, there were no prosecutions made.

And despite nearly 1,000 incidents of fly-tipping in Conwy county last year, not a single prosecution was made.

There were two prosecutions in Gwynedd, who had 529 fly-tipping incidents, and one successful prosecution each for Denbighshire and Flintshire.

Latest Welsh Government figures show just 104 successful flytipping prosecutions across the whole of Wales, representing just 0.3% of the 31,713 total recorded incidents.

Concerns have been raised regarding the failure by the Welsh Government and local authorities to crack down on this offence, which contributes to the £70m annual cost of environmental crime in Wales.

There are fears fly-tipping is going to increase in Conwy as the county moves towards four-weekly bin collections.

A resident in Llanelian, who didn’t wish to be named, said: “People tend to ‘decorate’ the lanes with their unwanted items, even though it’s probably nearer to take them to the recycling facilities in Mochdre.

“Over the past few months we’ve seen a cooker, a three-piece suite, a settee, a couple of arm chairs, numerous black bin bags, wood and, would you believe, a chaise longue.

“We’ve also seen items dumped in the lay-by just outside Bryn y Maen and black bin bags along the narrow lanes in the area.

“Many people are concerned. The situation is going to get far worse when the four-weekly bin collections are launched.”

Janet Finch-Saunders AM for Aberconwy said: “It is clear that the Welsh Government and local authorities need to do much more to punish those that illegally dump waste, and to crack down on these incidents – unsightly blights on our valued communities.

“The Welsh Government must work with local authorities to improve on a 0.3 per cent success rate.”

She continued: “Moves to trial four-weekly collections in Conwy Council will surely add to the problem, and are already causing huge uproar.”

Cllr Philip Evans, Conwy’s cabinet member for regulation, said: “This authority takes fly-tipping seriously and will act on and pursue any case brought to its attention.

“Conwy spends thousands of pounds a year collecting and properly disposing of fly-tipped waste as do private land owners.

“We have a prosecution for flytipping pending.”