London-wide Assembly Member Susan Hall has said that the scale of fly-tipping in London has “reached crisis point”, as her new report urges the Mayor of London to intervene and crack down on the problem.
This comes amid what she has claimed are “spiralling levels” of fly-tipping in the capital, with total incidents rising 14 percent in 2016/17 to the highest rate in England. Enfield is apparently the worst affected borough in the city, with over 75,600 incidents in 2016/17, according to the report.
Local authorities in London estimate that between them they have spent nearly £18.5m on dealing with fly-tipping, it says, an average of £557,444 per each of the 33 London authorities.
“All the evidence shows that a high level of fly-tipping just encourages more people to illegally dump their rubbish. Crime rates are higher in fly-tipping hotspots and dirty areas can have a negative impact on health and well-being. It’s time to put a stop to this vicious cycle”.
Susan Hall’s report, Cleaning up London, says that the Mayor should use his PR budget and TfL advertising space to fund a new anti-fly-tipping campaign. The campaign, which could be fronted by the Mayor himself, would urge commuters to keep London’s streets, parks and open spaces free from dumped waste.
Susan Hall says current TfL advertising plans to promote gender diversity should be scrapped and instead an anti-fly-tipping campaign launched with the funds.
The report claims that perpetrators believe that there is little chance of being caught for fly-tipping, and says that the Mayor should make CCTV technology available for local councils to use in hotspot areas.
This move could be funded through the Greener City Fund, with a reduction in fly-tipping leading to an improvement in London’s overall environment, it says.
Other recommendations in the report include:
- Resurrecting the Capital Clean Programme. This scheme was delivered during Boris Johnson’s mayoralty and awarded grants to community groups to hold clean up events.
- Creating a legal services hub at the GLA. This hub would provide and fund the legal services required to take cases through the courts after local authorities have identified fly-tippers.
Susan Hall AM said: “We’ve now reached crisis point. London is England’s fly-tipping capital and the problem is getting drastically worse every year.
“Local councils play the biggest role in clearing up our streets, but that is no excuse for the Mayor to stand idly by while fly-tipping goes through the roof – he needs to lead from the front.
“Sadiq Khan needs scrap the silly PR stunts and use the savings to run a London-wide campaign designed to raise awareness of the dangers of fly-tipping. New CCTV cameras would help local councils to catch perpetrators and a community clean scheme would empower Londoners to look after their own area.
“This is about more than just aesthetics; fly-tipping costs London taxpayers millions every year – money which could be ploughed into children’s services and social care.
“All the evidence shows that a high level of fly-tipping just encourages more people to illegally dump their rubbish. Crime rates are higher in fly-tipping hotspots and dirty areas can have a negative impact on health and well-being. It’s time to put a stop to this vicious cycle”.
The Mayor of London has been contacted for comment.