It’s time to talk rubbish
Councillors have agreed to take part in a national consultation to tackle fly-tipping and litter problems.
The Scottish Government launched a consultation to address litter and fly-tipping in the country, and the responses will contribute to future policy on how this can best be achieved.
Councillors at the recent Climate Change and Sustainability Committee meeting welcomed the national consultation and will submit responses by March 31.
Councillor Monique Mcadams, said:“that is a great report and I am supportive of it.”
Cllr Peter Craig added: “The cost of some of these people to dump their waste is more than the cost of being caught in a fine and that’s why
I’m welcoming the Scottish Government consultation because the punishment has got to be greater than the cost of just doing it anyway, and some people are openly tipping.
“The consultation and the increase in fines would be very welcome.”
Councillor Katie Loudon added: “I welcome the report and including the part of the response that is in there about having enforcement powers.
“One thing that I think would be helpful is to know a bit more about the thresholds.
“If you find evidence, what would constitute enough evidence to say it was that person that was involved, because I think from speaking to constituents they can get quite frustrated if they think nothing is going to happen to someone if evidence is there.”
Councillor Julia Marrs praised the consultation for offering a response which relates to private land.
She said:“i’m particularly pleased to see support mechanisms for private landowners, knowing that certainly in the rural areas fly-tipping can often be on private land and as a council we can’t act upon it directly.
“And there is very defined guidelines on what SEPA will actually consider an active pollution area, so it will appear to the public that the council is not acting when we are unable to act, so I am really pleased to see a response in that report to address that.”
Councillor Alex Allison said:“you could increase the fines you’re charging astronomically.
“It won’t make a difference unless you’re actually catching people, so I think I would like the response to be a lot more firm.”
The Scottish Government launched a national litter strategy in 2014 called“towards a Litter Free Scotland: A Strategic Approach to Higher Quality Local Environments”but has since reviewed original plans to reflect changes.
The original plan was looked at again in November 2019 and significant progress was identified along with key successes of the strategy.
However, it also showed that litter and fly-tipping is still a challenge and further actions were needed.
The strategy has since evolved to reflect new challenges such as the Covid pandemic and the government decided that updates were needed.
The consultation reflects these discussions and actions and invites feedback to tackle the issue of fly-tipping and litter.