Fly-tipping fund claim disputed
PKC defends allocation of community cash
Perth and Kinross Council has defended the way it distributed cash set aside to help communities tackle fly-tipping last year after a councillor claimed much of the money ended up being passed to wealthy private landowners.
Councillor Alasdair Bailey claimed last week to have discovered the local authority had awarded around £10,000 to a small group of landowners who asked for a share to cover the cost of either removing waste from their land or sealing off areas to stop it happening again.
The Carse of Gowrie councillor said he was particularly concerned about a proposal to pass a part of that now disputed sum to the owners of the Errol Park estate after examining their accounts.
Councillor Bailey said last week: “The fly-tipping fund was announced with great fanfare about empowering communities to take a stand against fly-tipping yet the reality is that all of the money allocated has gone to the owners of large country estates to further improve their land. Not a single community organisation has been awarded funding.”
The council failed to provide a response to Cllr Bailey’s claims before the PA reported them in last Friday’s paper but has since said private landowners have only managed to claim £3241 from the fund so far.
A spokesperson confirmed that figure will rise considerably, however, should the council decide to approve Errol Park estate’s application for funding. It is understood the estate has asked for £1700.
The council spokesperson said: “In 2020 a short-term fly-tipping fund of £20,000 was set up to support communities affected by fly-tipping on private land in Perth and Kinross.
“During the original pandemic lockdown, flytipping increased and communities, landowners and individuals were able to apply to the fund to cover the cost of disposal of fly-tipping and to finance preventative actions such as fencing to restrict vehicular access.
“The fund closed in December 2020 and six individual applications were received from a range of organisations such as [the] Wildlife Trust and land owners. Five have been processed and awarded, a combined support of £3241. A sixth application is currently being processed.
“As well as financing direct clean-ups and preventative work, the fund has paid for a mobile CCTV camera (£8245.16) which will be used by the Safer Communities Team to target known fly-tipping locations across Perth and Kinross and act as a further deterrent.
“Landowners, community groups and individuals will be asked to come forward with suggestions of where the camera should be placed. The fund in total, once all applications are approved, will amount to £13,136.”
Councillor Bailey remarked after reading the council’s response: “I was incorrect in stating that £10k of funding went to private landowners and I apologise for that error.
“However, my concern still stands that wealthy landowners have benefited from this fund which was billed as empowering communities to tackle flytipping.”