Tameside issues more than 100 fines for fly-tipping

Tameside Council has issued 112 fines for fly-tipping already in the current financial year.

There were 4,102 incidents of fly-tipping in the borough in 2022, according to government data.

Pendle in Lancashire tops the table of fly-tipping hotspots in the North West with 52 fly tips per 1,000 people, closely followed by Liverpool with 39 fly tips per 1000.

Manchester was proactive in clamping down on the dumping of illegal waste, issuing 1,250 fixed penalty notices (FPNs) last year, and prosecuting 338 people. Rochdale Council has the biggest problem in Greater Manchester with 28 fly tips per 1000 people, but only issued 27 FPNs and none of these were ever paid.

Tameside, Stockport and Salford were the least proactive in punishing fly tippers in Greater Manchester, only nine FPNs were issued last year and five fly tippers prosecuted between them. In total these three councils had almost 800,000 reported fly tipping incidents on public land, which was more than a quarter of all fly tipping in the Greater Manchester area.

However, Tameside Council has revealed that the following year, 2022/23, they issued 61 Fixed Penalty Notices an si people prosecuted.

A spokesman said: "The coronavirus pandemic impacted the approach we were able to take with regards fly tipping enforcement in terms of issuing fixed penalty notices. However in August 2022 we launched the Our Streets Campaign, where we work with residents, businesses and community groups in a proactive, partnership approach to tackle this and other issues to keep the borough clean, green and safe.

"Enforcement against fly tipping is a key priority for the Council and a range of pro-active and re-active measures are used to crackdown on fly tippers, including regular days of action focussed on waste enforcement which are proving to be very successful.

 In the current financial year 23/24 – the council has issued 112 fines and prosecuted two people, with a further six awaiting a first court hearing and one person has a warrant for their arrest for not attending court.

Here is a breakdown government data of each GM borough in 2022 when it comes to fly-tipping:

• Bolton: 1,184 incidents, 84 fines issued, 48 prosecutions, £243,724 spent
• Bury: 3,323 incidents, 51 fines issued, 0 prosecutions, £408,966 spent
• Manchester: 13,999 incidents, 1,250 fines issued, 338 prosecutions, £2,591,500 spent
• Oldham: 5,903 incidents, 448 fines issued, 30 prosecutions, £730,799 spent
• Rochdale: 6,241 incidents, 27 fines issued, 18 prosecutions, £821,473 spent
• Salford: 6,020 incidents, 7 fines issued, 4 prosecutions, £713,479 spent
• Stockport: 3,157 incidents, 2 fines issued, 0 prosecutions, £323,635 spent
• Tameside: 4,102 incidents, 0 fines issued, 1 prosecution, £344,001 spent
• Trafford: 2,521 incidents, 29 fines issued, 1 prosecution, £234,111 spent
• Wigan: 2,130 incidents, 210 fines issued, 2 prosecutions, £240,752 spent