Help after fears over fly-tipping in Staffordshire with tips closed

Staffordshire County Council closed its 14 recycling centres in March, in line with Government measures to reduce social contact and the risk of spreading Covid-19.

Local authorities across the country have closed their tips to the public – sparking concerns the move would lead to a surge in fly-tipping.

There have also been calls to reopen tips and even online petitions.

Staffordshire County Council is yet to announce any plans but the authority has been offering support to district and borough council teams that tackle fly-tipping in their areas.

Cannock Chase Council member John Preece said illegal dumping had been reported in the Washbrook Lane area of Norton Canes.

“It seems this is an ongoing issue with a lot of areas”, he told a virtual meeting of Cannock Chase Council’s cabinet.

Mike Edmonds, head of environment and healthy lifestyles at Cannock Chase Council said: “The county council offered to provide some assistance with tackling fly tipping.

"The recycling centres are closed and they are turning things round fairly quickly.

“The county council turned the Washbrook Lane and Newlands Lane areas round reasonably quickly – within a couple of hours.

"We are working with them to tackle these issues when we are aware of them.”

In other areas of the country there have been reports of a large rise in fly-tipping incidents.

South Staffordshire Council tweeted that it removed more than 200 rubbish piles during April.

Staffordshire County Council member Councillor John Francis, who represents the Stafford Trent Valley ward, told a virtual meeting on Monday: “The amount of stuff that has been dumped because the tips are shut – it still happens. We get a lot of dumping around here.”

But there has not been a major surge in fly-tipping reported in Staffordshire overall, the county council has said.

Leader Councillor Philip Atkins, responding to Councillor Francis’ comments, said: “The reports we have had from districts and boroughs is fly tipping is no worse than normal.”

Mark Deaville, Staffordshire County Council’s cabinet member for Commercial, said before the meeting: “We are closely monitoring fly tipping incidents across the county with the district and borough councils, who are doing fine work, and there has only been a small increase in reported cases.

“I detest this criminal behaviour and I think the people who do it would do it regardless of whether the recycling centres were open. We will be supporting prosecutions where possible against the small minority of individuals that carry out this illegal, anti-social activity.

“We greatly appreciate the vast majority of residents’ efforts in keeping their recyclable material at the home until we are able to reopen the network in Staffordshire.

“Government guidance has been clear that people should only leave their homes for essential travel, such as for exercise, food shopping, or work, and visiting a recycling centre does not fall into that category.

“Since the Government announcement to stay at home, closure has protected workers at the recycling centres and the public using them and reduced the pressure on the NHS. It’s also allowed those workers to support essential services elsewhere in the authority.

“We are monitoring the situation and are keeping in touch with the Government and neighbouring local authorities.

“When the time is right it is very likely that we will reopen the sites with social distancing rules in place and we will publicise all those arrangements beforehand.”

The latest fly-tipping figures revealed there were 40 reported incidents in Stafford Borough during March – up from 34 in March 2019 but down on the number reported during the same period in 2018, 2017 and 2016. In March 2016 there were 60 reported flytipping incidents in the borough.

A Stafford Borough Council spokesman said: “There is no excuse for dumping rubbish in our countryside and we will fine or even prosecute people where necessary.

“There was an increase in fly-tipping in March compared to the same month of last year, although it is less than in other years.

“And we have recently fined a person from the Stoke on Trent area and another from Telford for fly-tipping offences in our borough.”