EAST Devon District Council’s cabinet, last Wednesday night, approved the introduction of an additional fixed penalty fine against householders or businesses who have breached their duty of care in respect of how their waste has been disposed of.
Existing powers enabled the council to issue fixed penalty offences against the actual fly-tipper, but the new provision, under S34(2A) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, enables action to be taken against householders who do not undertake due diligence over who takes their waste away.
Andrew Ennis, service lead, Environmental Health, told the cabinet the intention of this new provision is to encourage householders to think carefully and to choose a waste carrier who is able to confirm that they hold a waste carriers’ licence and that they do in fact use approved disposal facilities.
He added: “In our experience, unlicensed carriers tend to be typically a ‘man and a van’ operation often found through advertising on social media or even plying their trade from door to door in an area.”
His report said officers will usually interview the originator of the waste, if that person can be identified, in order to ascertain how their waste came to be found as a fly tip, and that in most cases they are finding that the originator, usually a householder, cannot demonstrate that they have acted responsibly, and for example, will not be able to give any information about the person who they say removed their waste.
Mr Ennis said: “It therefore seems reasonable that responsibility for the final disposal remains with the householder and now regulations require that waste originators are actually responsible for ensuring that their waste is ultimately disposed of properly.”
He outlined that during the last two years the Environmental Protection team has investigated 49 littering and fly-tipping cases and issued 25 fixed-penalty notices. They have collected £3,460 in fines, and £1,263 in clean-up reimbursement costs, and there has been one successful prosecution.
He asked the cabinet to approve allowing his team to use the new power, adding: “There is a clear duty for the householder to undertake due diligence, and as an alternative to prosecution, we can use this Fixed Penalty Notice route. I hope that you see the value in the power.”
Cllr Geoff Jung, portfolio holder for the environment, said that he supported the use of it. He added: “Most people deal with their waste in the right way, but there are some cowboys still out there. We will endeavour to catch and fine them.”
A fixed-penalty of £400 (reduced to £200 if paid within ten days) for medium and large fly-tips, can now be issued, as can a lower fixed-penalty amount of £200 (reduced to £120 if paid within ten days) for small fly tips (defined as less than 180litres in volume – roughly the amount which would fill a standard wheeled bin).
Mr Ennis added: “A fixed penalty notice will generally be used only in response to a first (or in exceptional circumstances a second) offence committed by an individual or company.”
The cabinet unanimously supported the proposals.
East Devon Watch 