Woman must pay £1,400 over flytipping beside river
SHE PAID SOMEONE SHE FOUND ON SOCIAL MEDIA TO DUMP WASTE
A DERBY woman must pay out more than £1,400 after pleading guilty to flytipping in a field beside the River Trent.
Vanessa Burton, of Ilford Road, Mackworth, was tracked down by officers from South Derbyshire District Council after a wide range of furniture, white goods and mixed household waste was found dumped at the entrance to a farmer’s field in February 2020.
She pleaded guilty to depositing controlled waste, including domestic and kitchen waste, clothing, drink containers and rotting food, on farmland in Derby Road, Aston-on-Trent, without a waste management permit on or before February 14, 2020.
The rubbish, dumped in Aston on Trent, was traced to her by members of the council’s Community Safety Enforcement Team and she failed to respond to requests for information or to appear at an interview.
In court she admitted having paid someone she found on social media to remove the waste and having “buried her head in the sand” by ignoring the council’s requests.
Councillor Stephen Taylor, chair of the council’s environment and development service committee, said: “Everybody has a legal duty to make sure that waste they produce is disposed of properly.
“This individual made no effort to check that the person who was taking her waste was a lawful operator.
“Just as importantly, this case shows that the council is willing to take legal action to help stop fly tipping on farmer’s land.
“We know that this is a huge cost to the farming community, but this shows that we can work with landowners to stop it and punish offenders.”
Vanessa Burton was fined £733 and ordered to pay costs of £649 and a victim surcharge of £73, totalling £1,455, which must be paid within 28 days.