Defra minister to look at problem of fly-tipped waste

May 2 2008 by Sam Wood, The Journal

A DEFRA minister is to consider how farmers can have fly-tipped waste accepted at their local tip.

Defra Minister Joan Ruddock met with the Country Land and Business Association this week to look at how the problem can be solved.

In the meeting the minister said she was sympathetic to the financial burden landowners face in dealing with dumped hazardous waste.

However, she resisted the CLA’s call for the relevant authority to be responsible for clearing all incidents of fly-tipped waste that a landowner could not have prevented.

The CLA highlighted a number of occasions where vigorous pursuit of fly-tipping offenders is clearly needed. The minister gave assurances that she will be raising the issue with the Environment Agency and local authorities.

The CLA is campaigning for an amendment to the Environment Protection Act 1990 to ensure that landowners are not held responsible for the clearing-up costs when hazardous wastes, such as asbestos, are fly-tipped.

Angus Collingwood-Cameron, CLA North East director, said: “Illegal tipping is a major headache for landowners across much of the region. Household and garden waste is a nuisance, but bigger problems are caused by the dumping of building and other commercial waste. If this includes hazardous waste, the unfortunate landowner can incur considerable costs in disposing of the material legally.”

The CLA wants the Government to introduce a requirement to investigate all allegations of fly-tipping. At the moment it is easy for local authorities and the Environment Agency to simply force the landowner to clear up fly-tipped waste, rather than go to the trouble of finding the perpetrator themselves. The group also wants action on the particular problem of hazardous waste, especially asbestos. The costs of clearing up asbestos are enormous, as is the risk of the land becoming contaminated and water being polluted.

The CLA said that if a landowner had done everything to prevent hazardous waste being tipped it should be for the Environment Agency to clear it up and prosecute those responsible. The Government previously blocked an attempt by MP Bernard Jenkin to amend this law.