A House of Lords Committee has questioned if the new maximum fixed penalty level of £5,000 for fly-tipping will act as a ‘sufficient deterrent’.
Chair of the House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Baroness Sheehan called the £5,000 maximum limit a ‘drop in the ocean’ to the organised crime gangs profiting from co-ordinated illegal waste dumping.
“The Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee rightly raises concerns over the £5000 maximum fixed penalty level for waste crime,” Baroness Sheehan said.
“Issuing a fixed penalty notice also means that offenders can’t face criminal prosecution.”
When discussing the infamous Kidlington waste dump, Director of Policy, Communications and External Affairs at CIWM Dan Cooke told the BBC that criminals could have made well over £500,000 from dumping the waste.
Baroness Sheehan continued: “The Environment Agency already possesses substantial powers – including the ability to restrict site access, impose unlimited fines and pursue custodial sentences of up to five years.”
“The government must ensure that consistent, decisive enforcement of these powers is used.”
In July, the government announced that the maximum fine for fly-tipping in England would increase to £5,000, a rise of 400%, as part of its waste crime action plan.
Local authorities are set to retain full discretion over the level of fine issued and can scale penalties to reflect the severity of the offence.
As part of the announcement, the government said the new limit will act as a ‘stronger deterrent’ and reflect the ‘real harm’ that waste criminals cause.
The Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee, which scrutinises the policy, raised concerns over whether the fly-tipping limit will act as a ‘sufficient deterrent’.
As part of its weekly report, the Committee said: “Given that the most serious cases appear to be the result of large-scale commercial or organised criminal activity, we question whether the new maximum fixed penalty level of £5,000 will be a sufficient deterrent, especially as the issuing of a fixed penalty means that an offender cannot then also be prosecuted criminally.”
