PRIVATE landowners who have picked up the costly bill for fly-tipping dumped on their land will be approached by Barnsley Council as part of a new plan to combat the crime.
The Chronicle can reveal that a forum - which will be open to landowners and involve council bosses tasked with dealing with fly-tipping - will be set up this year to encourage information sharing and preventative measures in which incidents can be reduced.
It comes after EDF Energy, the firm behind a three-turbine wind farm between Great Houghton and Grimethorpe, revealed it has spent more than £20,000 in just two years clearing up tippers’ mess at the site.
According to the council, about 2,500 fly-tipping reports were made between April and December in 2018, 115 of which included loads dumped on private land.
Although the council foot the bill if the waste is dumped on their land - which costs them an estimated £250,000 per year - private landowners are responsible for any clear-up costs incurred on theirs.
Paul Castle, service director for the environment, told the Chronicle: “As a whole Barnsley’s bucking the trend for fly-tipping and although the 115 private land incidents are a minority, it is a huge problem for those landowners.
“The Country Land and Business Association (CLA), who represent private landowners, presented the problem to us and the first step to arise from a meeting last week is the emergence of a forum.
“The plan is to develop this quickly as it will help share ideas and look at how the council and landowners can work together to stop fly-tipping.”
The council says a lot of waste left on private land is dumped by HGVs, so is not only costly to collect due to its size but also potentially full of evidence.
Recent cases have involved materials gathered from house refurbishments including plasterboard, kitchens and bathrooms, leading the council to issue warning letters to anyone who has been granted planning permission.
“We’ve sent 754 letters to householders between April and December of last year, and 9,500 to builders to remind them of their responsibility to dispose of their waste correctly,” Mr Castle added.
“As well as this, 1,400 letters have been sent to households in the worst-hit areas as much of it is to do with education. We must continue to plea to the public and we thank them for coming forward, as video or photographic evidence can be used in order to prosecute those responsible.”
Eight vehicles used for fly-tipping were seized and crushed by the council last year, while fixed-penalty notices for anyone caught has recently been increased from £300 to £400.
Safer Neighbourhood Service manager Mark Giles added: “The forum will provide a place for landowners to talk as they are people who we want to work alongside.
“While the council can’t pick up fly-tipping on private land, we’re hopeful the forum will enable more joined-up work to share ideas. One landowner may not have had any incidents, but one, such as EDF Energy, has had a lot so we need to get to the bottom of why some do and others don’t.
“One thing is site security, and how easy it is to access, but if we can prosecute someone we can also try and recoup compensation for the landowner.”
Campaigner Kevin Osborne, who is also a parish councillor in Little Houghton, urged the authorities and landowners to step up to make it harder for tippers to dump their waste.
“I have a lot of sympathy with the landowners as no-one really knows the true cost that’s been incurred, but it’s important that sites’ security is tightened up as it’s been too easy for a HGV to pitch up and tip its load,” he added.
“The waste is full of potential evidence and I’d like to see many more prosecutions in 2019.”
