Grant to tackle fly-tipping

Published Thursday 21 March, 2024
Last updated on Wednesday 3 April, 2024

The council has been awarded £32,900 from the governments’ Rural Payments Agency (RPA) to bolster its work tackling waste related crimes.  

The borough has some of the highest levels of fly-tipping in Kent, which costs the council considerable resources to clear.

The funding will be used to buy additional CCTV cameras, which will be used to deter fly-tippers, gather evidence and help the council catch repeat offenders.  

The grant will also fund a campaign to promote households’ responsibility and duty of care when disposing of their waste.

A mobile joint operation between Kent Police’s Rural Taskforce and the council will also benefit from additional resources.

This work – known as Op Assist – stops suspected fly-tippers and takes enforcement action for waste related crimes.

The funding announcement follows the council approving changes to waste-related fixed penalty notices (FPNs) last month, seeing the fine for serious fly-tipping increase to £1,000.

Cllr Rich Lehmann, chair of the Environment and Climate Change Committee, said:

“When finances are tight, we are extremely grateful to receive funding in this area to tackle an issue we know is important to local people.

“We work hard to tackle waste related crime. It is a criminal act that damages our natural environment and costs the council, and local taxpayers, money to clear other people’s irresponsibly dumped waste.

“The additional cameras will act as a visible deterrent and help us catch repeat offenders, whilst Op Assist enables us to stop suspected fly-tippers before the waste ends up in our country lanes.

“We will also be running a campaign to share information about householder’s responsibilities to dispose of their waste appropriately. If illegally dumped waste is tracked back to you, you could also face a fine.

“If we work together, we can make sure the waste doesn’t fall into the hands of fly-tippers in the first place, to do this you need to only use licensed waste carriers and always ensure you get a transfer note.”