Fly tipping in county increased during pandemic

Fly tipping increased in Ceredigion during the pandemic and technology will be used more readily to combat it.

Ceredigion County Council environmental health manager Heddwyn Evans told councillors this week that it had been a challenging 16 months for the department as he outlined the procedures for dealing with fly tipping in the county.

A report to healthier communities overview and scrutiny committee on Wednesday (September 22) indicated that there had been 375 incidents of fly tipping logged in 2020-21, compared to 308 the previous year.

There have already been 106 incidents logged since April 1 up to August 18 this year.

Mr Evans said “the investigation and enforcement of fly tipping is notoriously difficult” relying on eye-witness evidence or incriminating evidence left in waste, although there was increasing use of CCTV to catch people.

The committee heard that cameras were being considered more by the council now as the “technology for monitoring has become cheaper and more reliable” with ‘hot spots’ put under surveillance at different times.

There were two fixed penalty notices issues in 2020/21 and one simple caution, compared to six notices and no cautions in 2019/20, the report adds.

Reporting via Clic, the council contact line, and not receiving updates or acknowledgement was raised by Cllr Bryan Davies, committee chairman, with other members also calling for more information to be provided to them if and when prosecutions launched, or fixed penalty notices issued.

Cllr Keith Evans also asked if there could be adjustments made to the system so that waste could be cleared up more quickly and isolating it, instead of waiting for evidence to be searched for by overstretched officers on location.