Fly-tippers in district not prosecuted

Nearly 3,000 cases of fly-tipping has been reported in the district over the last three years but no one has been prosecuted for any of these crimes.
Fly-tipping.Fly-tipping.
Fly-tipping.

It has been revealed in council documents that Warwick District Council has not prosecuted any fly-tippers in the last three years due to insufficient resources.

In the minutes of the council meeting on January 25, Liberal Democrat Cllr Alan Boad questioned the council’s policy on prosecuting fly-tipping.

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Cllr David Shilton, (Con, Park Hill) the portfolio holder for neighbourhood services, admitted that “the council did not prosecute fly-tippers because the team did not have sufficient resources” to do so.

Cllr Shilton then confirmed that even when clear evidence was provided, his team would not always take action against the fly-tippers.

Following the Liberal Democrats’ lead, Labour Cllr Colin Quinney asked the council to confirm there had been no prosecutions for fly-tipping in the last three years.

Cllr Shilton said: “Within the district in 2014/15 there were 890 cases of fly-tipping, 1,092 cases in 2015/16 and 800 cases to date in 2016/17 and that in this time there had been no prosecutions which was as a result of evidencing being hard to substantiate and that it cost less to clear up than to bring a case to court.”

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This adds up to 2,782 cases of fly-tipping that have not been prosecuted.

After the minutes were make public, Cllr Quinney said: “Is this actually an agreed policy by the Conservative-run executive or merely custom and practise of this council?

“Warwick District, according to my research, is in the bottom three per cent of districts across the country for dealing with fly-tippers.

“There are serious concerns from residents and businesses in my ward and others across the town that even when substantial evidence has been provided no action has been taken by the council to follow up or prosecute.”

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Cllr Boad told The Courier: “The figures for fly-tipping across the district are truly horrendous, the fact that they are cleared up quickly once they have been reported is irrelevant.

“The council should have been prosecuting the culprits whenever they could, with maximum publicity of naming and shaming, only after such action do I believe that we would see a reduction in fly-tipping.

“Local communities have been badly let down for a number of years by the council’s inactivity.”