THE fightback against the scourge of fly tipping in rural parts of South Warwickshire is continuing with CCTV cameras being used at hot-sport locations, thanks to funding from Warwickshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner.
Stratford on Avon District Council’s Rural Crime Advisors Bob Church and Baz Bains have been working hard in concert with Warwickshire Police and the Environment Agency to address illegal waste dumping, which has become a significant issue in some parts of the county.
Before and during the lockdown period some people have turned to waste carriers to remove unwanted rubbish from their homes. However, unscrupulous operators are simply dumping waste in rural locations, often at the roadside or on areas of private land, rather than disposing of it correctly.
Fitting conspicuous CCTV cameras at hot-spot locations is helping to reduce the numbers of people dumping waste illegally, while also providing further evidence to help identify those that continue to offend.
“Fly-tipping has become a serious cause of concern in our rural areas and communities, so we have been using innovative new ways to deter and disrupt people from dumping waste, including using CCTV cameras at hot-spot locations throughout South Warwickshire,” said Bob Church.
“This has had a marked effect in the areas we have trialled it, with a reduction in offending of around 70 per cent.
“We would like to see that figure rise over the next 12 months and thanks to continued funding from the Police and Crime Commissioner we are able to purchase and deploy more CCTV camera equipment within South Warwickshire.
“The scale of fly-tipping ranges from people leaving old electrical items and household rubbish on the roadside to the dumping of commercial waste by unauthorised waste carriers.
“In one recent case an individual who opted not to take their old fridge freezer to the local tip wound up with a £300 fine after being caught by our cameras dumping it on the roadside.
“At the other end of the scale we are investigating more widespread commercial dumping and we have ongoing investigations into a number of individuals some of which are being conducted with neighbouring local authorities.”
