The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Flytipping on the rise
More people are fly tipping waste in Peterborough during lockdown, new figures have shown.
In March this year, there were a total of 616 incidents in the city - and that number jumped to 764 in April.
It is hoped the opening of the Household Recycling Centre earlier this week will help reduce the amount of flytipping in the city.
There were long queues at the centre on Monday when it opened for the first time since the lockdown started.
A Peterborough City Council spokesman said: “Following government guidance on essential travel we closed the Household Recycling Centre on March 24 and since then we have recorded a rise in the number of fly-tipping incidents.
“Following updated government guidance we have worked on plans to re-open the HRC on Monday May 11 and further details will be announced in due course.
“We are investigating reports of fly-tipping as usual and sightings can be reported to us on 01733 747474 or online at www.peterborough. gov.uk.”
North West Cambridgeshire
MP Shailesh Vara said: “Flytipping has been a serious local problem, and the present circumstances have made it more so.
“Following my meeting with Cllr Harper earlier this year I wrote to the then Secretary of State for the Environment and Rural Affairs suggesting local authorities should be able to impose increased fines when offenders are caught.
“The re-opening of the Household Recycling Centre should help to alleviate the problem, and if anyone sees someone fly-tipping, I would urge them to contact their local councillor or contact the council directly as quickly as possible.”
Peterborough MP Paul Bristow said: “We know that opening the centre decreased flytipping by a quarter, so it’s closure was always going to be a problem.
“The recycling centre has reopened which should help, but we will only get on top of this flytipping problem if we act as one city.
“We should never forget that the people who dump are the ones to blame. You are not clever and you make everyone’s lives more difficult.
“We should all have a clear message that this is unacceptable, it will not be tolerated, and offenders will be caught. We need stricter fines and more CCTV..
This week cannabis worth £25,000 was found in a flytip in Yaxley.
Police were called to reports of fly-tipping in Holme Road on Thursday to find what appeared to be the remnants of a cannabis factory dumped by the road side.
Along with the drugs, some equipment used to grow the cannabis was uncovered.
Police are now appealing for information about the fly tip/ Witnesses should call 101 quoting ref 94 of May 7.
Last month a huge pile of waste was dumped in the Ortons.