Agenda item

To consider a report on the impact of fly tipping in Redditch.

(Report attached and oral report to follow).

Members received a report from Officers regarding fly-tipping in Redditch.  Officers explained that the levels of fly tipping in Redditch appeared to be comparatively high for the size of the population, and that the types of waste tended to be domestic rather than commercial.  An accurate measure of fly-tipping in the Borough was available through the Fly Capture Database which was used nationally and was used to collect data for National Performance Indicator 196. 

Officers explained that the Council had a high level of enforcement action in relation to fly-tippping and had achieved a level two grade for its enforcement action.  Further work on fly tipping was planned by the Council including undertaking further analysis of fly tipping trends, targeted publicity, and enforcement action. 

Members complimented the service for taking quick action once fly tipping had been reported.  Members commented on the scheme that had been piloted the previous year whereby once a fly-tip had been cleaned up, a card advertising the action was distributed to local residents and Ward Councillors to raise awareness of this work.  Members questioned whether this scheme was still in operation.   Officers were asked to provide further information on the current status of this scheme. 

Members queried if there had been a rise in the number of fly-tips when charges for bulky waste collections were introduced.  Officers explained that this had not been the case and that in fact, the overall level of fly tipping had decreased.  This was mainly attributed to the level of enforcement action that the Council had taken.  Members questioned the number of people across the Borough who acted as volunteer litter pickers.   Officers explained that incidents of street littering had also decreased and that the Council was one of the top performing Councils on this issue.  Officers offered to provide further information about the numbers of volunteer litter pickers, and where these volunteers tended to perform this voluntary role within the Borough, for Members’ consideration. 

Members discussed the possibility of utilising the internet to report fly-tipping incidents.  Some Members had used a third party system available through the internet that, once a fly-tip had been logged by users, would register the fly-tip with the local authority.  Members were interested to see if this system was recognised by the Council in performance records.  Officers explained that most electronic reports of fly-tips came through the Worcestershire Hub.  Officers offered to provide further information regarding the use of electronic systems used by the Council to register fly-tipping. 

Finally, Officers informed the Committee that they were planning to reintroduce the ‘Worth It’ advertising campaign that had been run in previous years.  Members requested that Officers report on the progress of this campaign and on the developments in reducing fly tipping at a following meeting.

RESOLVED that

1)                 clarification of the status of the scheme designed to promote fly-tipping clean up operations be provided by Officers;

2)                 a report on the number of people across the Borough who acted as volunteer litter pickers be provided by Officers;

3)                 clarification of the electronic / internet systems that could be used to report fly-tipping be provided to Members;

4)                 relevant Officers attend a future meeting of the Committee to provide an update on the ‘Worth It’ campaign and on the progress made in tackling fly tipping in the town; and

5)                 subject to the above, the report be noted.