South Cambridgeshire Council hits fly tippers where it hurts – in the pocket

A 75 per cent increase in one of the fees charged by South Cambridgeshire District Council has been approved without a murmur of dissent. And that’s not surprising since the council is about to increase fixed penalty fines for fly tipping from £400 to £700.

The new fines for South Cambridgeshire which come into force on April 1 are:

1: Fly-tipping Fixed Penalty Notices will increase from £400 to £700. The government maximum is £1,000.

2: Littering or graffiti fines increase from £150 to £400. The government maximum is £500.

3: Breaching a household waste duty of care increase from £400 to £600.

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A reminder of the increases was released by the council today after it revealed one of the last to pay £400 was a resident who dumped building waste on land at the back of a council house in Girton.

A South Cambridgeshire District Council Environmental Crimes Officer visited the area after a complaint was made to the council by a member of the public.

Photographs of the fly-tipped waste were gathered, and a witness statement taken before formally interviewing a local resident who admitted placing the waste – soil, boards, bags, and other building materials at the location.

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A Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) of £400 was immediately issued for the offence of fly tipping.

Cllr Henry Batchelor, Lead Cabinet Member for Environmental Services for South Cambridgeshire District Council, said: “Fly-tipping is a blight on our beautiful towns and villages and is a serious criminal offence for which you can be prosecuted.”

South Cambridgeshire council is recruiting two additional environmental crimes officers to carry out active patrols, checks and targeted actions against known hotspots within South Cambridgeshire.

Cllr Richard Stobart, district councillor for Girton, said: “We really appreciate the quick response from the South Cambs fly-tipping team to this incident.

“We’d also like to express our gratitude to the resident who reported the incident.

“The penalty notice is a clear reminder that there are consequences of taking a short cut in the disposal of waste.”