Fly-tipping

Fly-tipping is the illegal dumping of rubbish or bulky items on land not licensed to receive it.

Fly-tipping can be dangerous.  It pollutes land and waterways and costs the council tax payer significant amounts of money to clear away.

Vehicles including cars, motorbikes, caravans and trailers, should be reported through our abandoned vehicles process.  Please do not report as a fly tip.

Report fly-tipping on Council owned land

If you see someone fly-tipping or wish to report fly-tipped waste on council land, please report it to us, giving as much detail as possible.  We will remove within 48 hours unless:

• there is an ongoing investigation relating to the fly-tip or
• we need to arrange specialist resources to remove it

Report fly-tipping

Please do not use this form if you want to tell us about someone in your area who is:

• placing their rubbish or recycling out earlier than the night before/morning of their collection day, or
• not protecting their rubbish or recycling properly and it is causing a littering problem, or
• leaving their rubbish or recycling somewhere that is causing an obstruction to pedestrians or road users

Please use our Contact Us form instead and provide the relevant address details for us to investigate.

Fly-tipping on private land

The Council is not responsible for clearing and collecting fly-tips on private land. This should be reported to the landowner.

However, our Community Protection team can investigate reports of fly-tipping on private land where there is evidence that could lead to identifying the person(s) responsible.  Further details of this can be found on our environmental crime pages.  You can report fly-tipping to them on private land by using the online reporting form above. However, please be aware that the responsibility for clearing it will still lie with the landowner and not the council. 

When reporting an incident of fly-tipping, please give as much information as possible in response to the questions on the form.

If you discover fly-tipped waste

Do not:

• touch the waste - it may contain syringes, broken glass, asbestos, toxic chemicals or other hazardous substances
• disturb the site - there may be evidence that could help identify the fly-tippers and lead to their prosecution

Do:

• visually try to work out what the waste consists of and how much there is
• make a note of the day, date and time you saw the tipping, its exact location and whether it is in or near water

If you see someone fly-tipping

If you see someone fly-tipping make a note of:

• how many people are involved and what they look like
• what has been tipped - how much and what it looks like
• details of any vehicles involved including make, colour and registration number if possible

Penalty for fly-tipping

Dumping household, industrial and commercial waste illegally is a serious criminal offence, it:

• carries an unlimited if the case goes to the Crown Court
• an offender can be sent to prison

We treat this problem very seriously and will usually prosecute anyone caught fly-tipping waste.

Fly-tipping is often associated with dumping waste from vehicles. In this case the person who owns the vehicle can also be prosecuted.  This means that it is possible for a prosecution to occur when only the vehicle, not the driver, is identifiable. The police also have the powers to seize vehicles used for fly-tipping.