Dear Clerk to The Parish Council,
I am writing to all parish councils (79) in Central Bedfordshire, asking for some assistance.
I am an environmental protection officer. One of my roles is the investigation of fly-tipping incidents. I am looking at innovative/new tactics to assist in reducing this type of offence. No one tactic alone will seriously reduce fly-tipping, but by using all tactics we can make a difference.
Explanation – There are many reasons fly-tipping occurs. One reason is householders paying unlicensed waste collectors to remove waste. The unlicensed collector does not want to pay waste deposit fees at waste centres, so they tip the waste anywhere. Normally, transactions between householder and waste collector are done in cash. There is a hidden economy, with no income tax being paid. There is the cost to the local authority and council tax payer (on average £135,000.00 a year in Central Bedfordshire), to remove fly-tipped waste from public land. There is the unknown cost to private landowners.
I like many these days belong to village/town Facebook (FB) groups. I regularly see posts from people asking “can anyone collect some waste?” This is usually met by several replies from would be waste collectors. Many replying state they have a waste transfer licence, fully legit etc. Most will not be. Not living in the respective villages I cannot be part of the local FB group.
The idea – to persuade FB admins, every time when they see communications, people offering to collect waste or replying to people asking for waste to be collected, every time, they ask to person to upload an image of their waste carries licence (credit card size). This will help to protect local communities from using these clandestine and illegal operators. Individual householders are issued £300 fines if fly-tipped waste is proved to have come from their address. It will identify those who do not have a waste carriers licence, so communities can avoid those. It will help in the overall objective of keeping our country-side, villages and towns clear of illegal fly-tipped waste. In many respects it is a digital type of No Cold Calling Zone initiative.
How can you help? If you are part of your local FB group, please forward this to whoever is the FB Group admin. Please pass my contact details and this idea. Would the parish council by my bridge on this please?
I appreciate any help you may be able to give.
Kind Regards
Peter Byrne
Environmental Protection Officer
Community Safety
Central Bedfordshire Council Watling House, High Street North, Dunstable, LU6 1LF
Direct Dial: 0300 300 4437 | Internal: 74437
Email: peter.byrne@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk
www.safercentral.org
Twitter: @safercentral
Facebook: Safer Central