APPENDIX 7
Memorandum from the Country Land and Business
Association (CLA)
INTRODUCTION
The Country Land and Business Association (CLA)
has some 40,000 members in England and Wales engaged in all aspects
of rural land ownership and the rural economy. Some own estates,
some farm and some run small or medium sized businesses that are
concerned with the use and management of land in some way. Being
a membership organisation, there are committees across the countryside
where members can express their views and share their experience.
In addition the CLA also provides a central advisory team where
members can discuss individual legal and land use problems. This
direct access along with the breadth of the membership allows
us to give an informed view on matters affecting the rural environment
and economy.
Whilst we are concerned about the general increase
in environmental crimes in recent years, in our response we focus
on fly-tipping. This is a most significant and growing problem
in rural areas, and we are very pleased to have the opportunity
to express our concerns to the Environmental Audit Committee's
Sub-Committee on Environmental Crime.
In addition, we will be submitting a response
to the Government's recent consultation paper on this issue.
1. What is the scale of the impact of these
crimes on the local environment?
The CLA is organised on a regional basis, and
we are aware that the problem of fly-tipping is increasing across
the countryside. The situation is particularly bad in areas near
or adjoining conurbations. Perhaps surprisingly it is disproportionately
common near to official disposal sites. Presumably this results
from people taking there waste to the site, finding it closed
and so depositing it in the nearest convenient place.
In our experience the majority of fly-tipping
takes place in those areas to which people already have access
(legally or illegally) but which are either remote or concealed.
We note that it is particularly prevalent down rarely used country
tracks and lanes that can not be seen from the main road. Gateways
and ditches are the most common locations for the waste to be
left.
As such, fly-tipping tends to occur repeatedly
in the same locations. It is unusual to have a site that is only
fly-tipped once.
Building waste appears to be the most commonly
fly-tipped material in the countryside followed by green waste.
In recent years there has been an increase in the number of cars
and tyres being deposited.
The most obvious impact of fly-tipping is of
course its unsightliness. But it can also be dangerous. Hazardous
waste, in the form of asbestos and chemicals are also deposited,
with obvious consequences for flora and fauna. Even "non-hazardous"
material can be dangerous for livestock. As a recent example,
one member's cows died after eating yew clippings included amongst
fly-tipped material dumped on a public footpath.
A further environmental consequence of fly-tipping
is the nature of the steps that have to be taken to avoid it.
There are very few effective steps which a landowner can take
to prevent his land being fly-tipped. It does not take a very
determined fly-tipper to drive down a lane and empty his van beside
a secluded gateway or into a ditch.
A landowner is of course generally prohibited
from erecting gates and stiles across the sort of rights of way
that fly-tippers commonly use (see (5) below). Nevertheless he
will do what he can. Informal roadside pull-ins, provided by the
landowner, are removed. Hedges are cut back to improve lines of
vision and unused ditches are filled in. All this can have a negative
effect on the look of the countryside.
2. Has there been a cultural change in attitudes
to these kind of crimes and are they being treated more or less
seriously than in the past?
This is very difficult to judge. The evidence
is that fly-tipping has increased with the increase in landfill
tax. It is possible that individuals object to paying taxes and
then finding that items of common refuse are no longer acceptable
in dustbins or collected free of charge by local authorities.
It is certainly a concern that where those responsible are caught
and prosecuted, the sentences handed down are comparatively light.
Examples exist of the courts discharging people charged with the
most flagrant and documented examples, when a community service
order to clean up material flytipped in a given area and at their
own cost and deliver it to an approved site would seem the appropriate
response.
We would strongly suggest that the sub-committee
look at the sentences imposed on those found guilty of fly-tipping.
3. Do responsible bodies who deal with the
problem and its consequences have sufficient resources and powers
to do so?
A particular concern is the failure of the Environment
Agency/Local Authorities to clean up fly-tipped material on private
land. This can even extend to hazardous material such as asbestos
(we were informed by one member of the Agency that "there
was no funding for such clearance and I understand that it is
a matter for the landowner"). The Agencies have the power
to deal with material on private land and recover their costs
from the perpetrator of the crime, but in the vast majority of
cases they refuse to do so.
Although an occupier has a defence under the
Environmental Protection Act 1990 against being required to clear
fly-tipped material on his land, in practice most feel obliged
to remove the waste at their own cost to avoid further fly-tipping
and also to prevent danger to stock and wildlife.
Fly-tipping is a problem for society that is
affected, and indeed exacerbated, by many things such as the landfill
tax and the location and opening hours of civic amenity sites
(whilst we believe that the total number of disposal sites has
increased, their opening hours are frequently inconvenient, for
example they are not open in the evenings or at weekends). None
of these factors are within the control of individuals, yet the
individual occupiers of land on which fly-tipped material is dumped
are left alone to deal with the problem and this is untenable.
Further, with restrictions on what can go to
landfill and increased landfill tax (the Government has stated
that it intends to increase landfill tax by £3 per tonne
each year to reach a medium to long-term goal of £35 per
tonne) fly-tipping is set to grow. However, without the responsible
bodies actually having to clear fly-tipped material on all land
and having the resources to do so, it will prove impossible to
quantify the problem and assess the measures needed to deal with
it.
On public land such as highways the local authority
has to clean up fly-tipped material. However, we have reported
cases where the material has been left for some months leading
to the death of livestock. The local authorities need to be resourced
sufficiently and treat the problem seriously so that they deal
with material in a timely fashion.
4. Is there sufficient dialogue and co-operation
across Government and amongst the various bodies responsible for
dealing with the problem at a local level?
It would be most useful if the committee could
look at the extent to which Government policy has increased the
incentive to fly-tip.
5. What alternatives exist for dealing with
these types of crimes outside the criminal justice system?
(i) Better hours for civic amenity sites;
(ii) Clearer powers available to the local authority
to erect/authorise barriers on public rights of way (illegal vehicular
use of these ways is associated with fly-tipping yet the powers
to erect barriers across the ways to prevent such use are limited
and confused);
(iii) Sentences which act as a deterrent
(b) Assessing the Problem
(i) Local Authorities/ Environment Agency should
deal with all fly-tipped material and seek their costs from the
perpetrators rather than leaving individual occupiers to clean
up the waste at their own cost—without this an assessment
of the scale of the problem, factors that exacerbate the situation
and steps necessary to deal with it will prove impossible.
6. Does environmental crime have a disproportionate
impact on poorer and less advantaged sections of society?
In all rural areas fly-tipped material is unsightly,
damaging to the environment and dangerous for livestock.
March 2004
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