COVENTRY MESSAGE BOARD

It's on the increase across the city



Three wards in Coventry have been named and shamed as accounting for almost half of the city's fly-tipping offences.

Fly-tipping has increased in the city over the last 12 months from 3,342 incidents in 2016/17 to 4,704 in 2017/18.

St Michael's, Foleshill and Upper Stoke are the worst offending wards, with the areas proving a "challenge" for officers.

Speaking at the Communities and Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Board on September 19, Craig Hickin, head of environmental services, said: "Fly-tipping doesn't affect the whole city proportionally.

"It is suffered in three wards in particular which accounts for virtually half of the city's fly-tipping. That is St Michael's, Foleshill and Upper Stoke.

"They are probably the most economically challenged wards in the city.

"They are the area with the less neighbourhood feel and they also have people from various different backgrounds from different countries.

"When people come to the UK they tend to bring the culture that they came with which is not necessarily the culture we want particularly around fly-tipping.

"People are less likely to put their heads above the parapet and less likely to be witnesses to what is going on in their area, so it does make things more difficult."

The council has recently introduced a programme called Clean Streets, focusing on the three wards to help educate people on how to dispose of their waste legally.

Waste collection services were amalgamated into the Street Enforcement Team in February 2016 as a result of £2.5 million council savings.

Mr Hickin said this has resulted in the loss of 10 "experienced officers", with the changes proving "difficult".

Fly-tipping at highest ever level in Coventry



Fly tipping in Coventry has reached the worst level on record, at huge cost to the council.

The latest government figures have revealed there were 4,704 incidents of fly tipping recorded in the last year.

That’s up from 3,342 cases of people illegally dumping their waste in 2016/17 - and is the highest number seen since at least 2012/13, when the recording figures started.

Whilst the cost of clearing up the mess is no longer recorded, last year it was estimated that picking up after litter louts amounted to more than £119,646.

It means the total cost to Coventry council was likely even higher in 2017/18.

Warwick also saw incidents of fly tipping increase dramatically, from 835 cases in 2016/17 to 1,014 last year.

Stratford-on-Avon also saw a rise in incidents, from 291 cases to 328, as did North Warwickshire, from 900 cases of fly tipping to 972.

Only Rugby, and Nuneaton and Bedworth saw the situation improve over the same period, although both areas still saw hundreds of cases of rubbish being illegally dumped.

In most cases the rubbish was everyday household waste, but there were also 562 white goods, 39 tyres and three animal carcasses dumped across Coventry over the course of the year.

The waste was mainly left on highways and in back alleyways, but occasionally was also discarded on footpaths and railways.

People were prosecuted for fly tipping in Coventry on only ten occasions in 2017-18 - although that was up from just one prosecution the year before.

Meanwhile, despite the council also handing out 17 fixed penalty notices related to fly tipping over the course of the year, no one actually paid the penalty.

There were ten other types of fines paid, however, meaning Coventry council made around £4,884 in total - likely not enough to scratch the surface of fly- tipping costs.