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Fly-tipper fined for dumping green waste

Fly-tipper fined for dumping green waste in country lane  

A Flamstead man has been fined for fly-tipping green waste in a rural lane near Markyate in November last year.   On 5 July 2023, at St Albans Magistrates’ Court, Edward Meredith, of Priory Orchard, Flamstead, pleaded guilty to the unauthorised deposit of controlled waste in Caddington Common on 5 November 2022. Meredith was ordered to pay a total of £2,222, which consisted of a £1,230 fine, £500 costs and a victim surcharge of £492.  

Magistrates heard that on 8 November 2022, one of Dacorum Borough Council’s Environmental Enforcement Officers attended a fly-tipping hot spot at Caddington Common. There, the officer found a pile of green waste dumped by the roadside. Footage from a covert surveillance camera, which had been deployed previously in the area to catch fly-tippers, showed a driver of a white pick-up truck deposit the waste.  

The defendant was traced through the vehicle and was issued with a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) of £400. However, despite making contact with the Council’s Environmental Enforcement Team and being sent a reminder, the FPN was not paid. The Council then pursued the matter through the courts.  

Cllr Robin Bromham, the Portfolio Holder for Communities, said:  “It’s a great shame that a minority of people profit and incur costs to Council Tax payers by fly-tipping, rather than disposing of waste properly. Our Environmental Enforcement Officers are doing a great job in detecting these offenders, so that fixed penalties can be offered. Offenders have the option of having their case heard in court, and in this case the court decided that the offence should attract a larger fine and awarded costs to us with a victim surcharge.”  

The Council is part of the Hertfordshire Fly Tipping Group (HFTG). This is a multi-agency taskforce including the borough, district and county councils as well as Hertfordshire Constabulary, Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner, Herts Fire and Rescue, the Environment Agency and the National Farmers’ Union.  

These organisations have come together to improve how Hertfordshire responds to fly-tipping. The HFTG is delivering improvements in enforcement capability across the county, as well as rolling out new technology to assist in identifying and prosecuting fly-tippers.  

The HFTG is also behind the award-winning #SCRAPflytipping campaign, which is used across Hertfordshire to help educate residents, and has been provided to other local authorities across the UK (free of charge) to help promote a consistent message.    For more information please visit www.dacorum.gov.uk/flytipping.