FLY-TIPPING HAS RISEN BY 25% IN THE LAST YEAR

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 24th Oct 2007

Figures released by DEFRA show that the number of incidences of fly-tipping has risen in Test Valley this year to over a thousand cases compared with fewer than eight hundred and fifty last year. The cost of fly tipping to Test Valley Borough Council has also risen to over forty five thousand pounds a year.

Commenting Local MP Sandra Gidley said;

"Fly-tipping has become endemic. It is a huge problem as not only does it cause a blot on our landscape but it also damages the environment.

"The Conservative controlled council has rushed into introducing alternate weekly household waste collections without providing a better provision of waste and recycling facilities

"The household waste and recycling centre near Romsey always has long queues and with winter approaching the problem is heightened by the limited opening hours.

"We all want to see an increase in recycling. The council must do more to stop householders dumping their rubbish illegally by providing better and more recycling and waste areas and extending opening times at current centres. It could also consider funding an enforcement officer and installing CCTV cameras in fly tipping hotspots.

"I have recently signed an EDM calling on the Government to step up its campaign on fly-tipping and street rubbish."

Notes to Editors

Fly-tipping is the illegal disposal of waste onto land with no licence to accept waste.

The figures released by DEFRA can be found at http://www.defra.gov.uk/news/2007/071009b.htm

In 2006/7 there were 1,065 incidences of fly tipping in Test Valley costing £45,494.00 compared with 848 incidences in 2005/6 costing £37,288.00

Sandra has signed EDM 1260 on Fly-tipping and Street Rubbish

That this House recognises the growing problem of fly-tipping and rubbish-dropping in the UK; notes that although made illegal through the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005 the problem of fly-tipping persists; recognises that there is also a problem of street rubbish, including fast food and cigarette waste, which can lead to a decline in tourism and an increase in the presence of vermin on the streets; further notes that this is a problem that affects both the countryside and urbanised areas; is concerned at the amount of tax-payers' and land-owners' money that is wasted each year on clearing this rubbish; and calls upon the Government to step up its campaign against fly-tipping and street rubbish, including working with groups such as Keep Britain Tidy and the Countryside Alliance.