Not in MY Backyard (Lancashire & North Merseyside)

Penalties

All the local authorities in Lancashire and North Merseyside are adopting a proactive role as enforcing authorities for fly-tipping and littering offences.

Fixed Penalty Notices can be served for fly-tipping and littering of smaller amounts of waste. These result in a fine of £50. However, non-payment of the fine can result in prosecution and a fine of up to £1000.

For large fly-tipping incidents the penalties are significantly increased. Offences under the Environmental Protection Act, 1990 did attract a maximum financial penalty of £20,000 or 6 months imprisonment if the case is sentenced in a Magistrate's Court. In Crown Court the maximum imprisonment was limited to 2 years. This was per offence. Often in large scale incidents more than one offence will be committed.

Successful lobbying by the Environment Agency has seen a significant change. The Clean Neighbourhoods Act 2005 whilst dealing with a number of nuisance offences such as litter and graffiti also deals with the deposit and disposal of waste (see Part 5 of the Act). Section 41 amends the penalties available for Section 33 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. Now in a Magistrates' Court the maximum penalty is £50,000 or twelve months imprisonment per offence. In Crown Court offences for non-hazardous waste have been brought in line with hazardous waste, that is, the penalties are unlimited. Section 105 amends Section 2 of the Pollution Prevention and Control Act 1990 in exactly the same way.

This change has had the knock-on effect of making offences concerning the fly tipping of non-hazardous waste arrestable under the Police and n the region is unfortunately increasing and the cost of removing and disposing of such waste is often very high. Your help is needed to stamp out this problem and catch the culprits, who are not only spoiling our environment, but also costing valuable resources to clean up after.