Recommendation 5

Defra is not doing enough to support local authorities to tackle fly-tipping. Fly-tipping has a big impact on the public: there were well over a million recorded incidents in England in 2020–21. Reported fly-tipping in urban areas is high while fly-tipping can blight lives in rural areas despite remaining substantially unreported. Defra is adamant that it is the responsibility of local authorities to tackle fly-tipping, supported by guidance and powers to impose sanctions that Defra develops and provides. Yet local authorities’ clear duty is to clear fly-tipped waste from land it controls, while investigating fly-tipping or tackling the perpetrators are choices Government actions to combat waste crime 7 constrained by local authorities’ limited resources; different local authorities show highly variable practice. Defra is still working on a fly-tipping toolkit announced in 2018 and has recently provided 11 authorities with between £25,000 and £50,000 each to trial approaches to preventing or addressing fly-tipping. Defra allocated this funding on the basis of bids from invited authorities, which may have rewarded those authorities with the most capacity to bid rather than the best ideas. Defra was not able to explain the gap between the scale of fly-tipping and action on the ground, or explain how its overall goal of eliminating waste crime was compatible with this level of variation. Recommendation: Defra should work with local authorities to set a clear national framework for tackling fly-tipping, setting overall expectations and promoting good practice, while allowing local authorities the flexibility to respond to local circumstances.