Fly-tipping costs council more than £1m in a year

Clearing up fly-tipping has cost a local authority in West Sussex more than £1m in the space of a year, councillors have been told.

Crawley Borough Council laid out about £1.3m last year which cabinet member for public protection, Julian Charatan, said could "otherwise have been invested in local services, public spaces and community facilities".

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Charatan also told the full council meeting that 108 incidents had been investigated in the last six months.

"Fly-tipping is not a victimless crime... it's simply not fair that the actions of a small minority create costs and problems for everyone else," he said.

From September, the maximum fixed penalty notice (FPN) for fly-tipping in England increased from £1,000 to £5,000.

In the same month, the council successfully prosecuted a waste carrier for fly-tipping after waste was dumped in a garage block owned by the local authority. He was ordered to pay £588.

Charatan said: "I would like to thank residents who report incidents and help identify those responsible."

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