Derby City Council, local newspaper the Derby Telegraph, and volunteer group Normanton Empowerment Team have launched a petition calling on government to amend current legislation so that it is easier to prosecute people for flytipping.

The petition has been launched after the council identified that in the 12 months to March 2014, there were 6,651 incidents of fly-tipping in Derby – 5,173 in the Normanton and Arboretum wards – but no convictions.

Currently, those who illegally deposit waste on land not permitted to receive it can only be prosecuted if the burden of proof is ‘beyond reasonable doubt’, but the petition is calling for this to be changed to ‘on the balance of probability’.

According to the council, this would, within reason, make the presence of waste or litter on land or property ‘the only evidence required to take enforcement action’.

Other changes the three bodies would like to see implemented include:

• making it a legal requirement that property owners must keep their land free from litter and waste; and
• making it an offence for a person questioned by a council enforcement officer on a litter or flytipping matter to withhold their personal details.

According to the council, these changes would make convictions relating to small-scale flytipping easier (the Environment Agency investigates larger scale fly-tipping incidents involving more than a lorry load of waste, hazardous waste and/or fly-tipping by organised gangs of waste criminals), thus reducing costs for the council and taxpayers.

As such, it is calling for people to sign the petition to lobby the House of Commons for change (the petition needs 100,000 signatories before it can be discussed in Parliament).

Councillor Ranjit Banwait, Leader of Derby City Council, said: "The only people that can give us the powers we need are in central government."

Harsher waste law penalties

The petition comes amidst other work to reduce flytipping and highlight the costs and environmental impacts caused by the offence.

Earlier this year, the Sentencing Council (SC), a division of the Ministry of Justice, launched sentencing guidelines for judges that calls for harsher sentences on those found guilty of committing waste crime.

Introduced by the SC due to a ‘lack of familiarity, particularly among magistrates’ with sentencing for these offences, and to ensure that offenders ‘are hit in the pocket as well as deterred from committing more crime’, the guidelines identify that individuals found to guilty of flytipping should be subject to an ‘unlimited fine’ and/or five years’ custody when tried on indictment; up to £50,000 and/or six months’ custody when tried summarily; and an offence range of conditional discharge to three years’ custody.

The guidelines apply to all offenders aged 18 and over, as well as to organisations.

Other work to reduce flytipping includes Scotland’s recent anti-litter strategy ‘Towards a Litter-Free Scotland’ which has seen the Scottish Government launch an awareness campaign as well as a £100,000 grant fund to help local communities tackle litter and flytipping.

Read the petition to change the law on litter and flytipping.