The government has said it will directly fund the clear-up of 48,000 tonnes of waste at illegal tips in the north of England, following criticism of a north-south divide on tackling waste crime.
Sky News had highlighted how local people in Bickershaw, near Wigan – whose homes have been infested with rats because of the waste – said they felt abandoned by the Environment Agency.
That followed the government setting aside £9m for clearing up a similar-sized waste site in Kidlington, Oxfordshire.
The decision to clear waste from sites in Wigan, Sheffield and Lancashire is part of a major raft of measures from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the Environment Agency.
It describes the plans as its “toughest ever crackdown” on waste criminals.
“Waste criminals have been damaging our communities, countryside, environment and economy for too long. This action plan sends a clear message: dump illegally and you will face the full consequences,” said Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Emma Reynolds.
The 10-point plan unveiled by the Environment Agency includes plans for faster intelligence handling, a more consistent and quicker response to dumping reports, and naming and shaming operators involved.
Sky News was given exclusive access to a new drone squad – part of the latest measures – which are equipped with lasers, thermal imaging and cameras to help gather evidence and spot illegal waste dumps.
James Burton, who is one of the 33 new pilots, said: “It can be used very effectively for evidence gathering, the photographs we can take from the sky.
“It paints the picture of the significant level of impact this has had on the countryside and it enables us to better sell the story to a jury and the judge.”
Steve Molyneux, the Environment Agency director of environment and business, said the agency is committed to tackling organised criminals behind waste crime.
He said: “My message to the criminals is we’ll be working with our partners at the police, HMRC and local authorities and we’ll all be bearing down and coming after you.”
He also said officials want to get to sites sooner, before dumping gets out of hand: “As soon as we’re in there, we can use things like restriction orders to stop activity virtually immediately on site, so the more we can work with people to get that early detection the more we can work on prevention.”
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Analysis
Make no mistake – this is the government’s big attempt to try and get ahead of a news agenda that is increasingly dominated by the latest mega dump and the lives blighted by it.
Its plans contain a quick solution: in an attempt to quash north/south divide accusations, throw millions of pounds to clear three sites in the north of England, which is of course welcome.
Around £20m is already being spent at the dumps in the south at Hoad’s Wood, Kent and Kidlington, Oxfordshire.
But that doesn’t solve the problem – the fact that it is simply so profitable for criminals to either dump inconspicuously or to buy up cheap land and slowly fill it up with tens of thousands of tonnes of waste; a far cheaper option than paying landfill tax.
To tackle this, the EA’s 10-point master plan. The key points are faster intervention – getting to sites before they become mega-dumps. Urging the public to report anything suspicious, to be their eyes and ears on the ground.
But this will be frustrating to many locals who say they repeatedly alerted authorities about dumping no to avail – the dump then becomes so big it costs millions to sort, with the culprits long gone.
I pressed the EA on whether there’d been any failures in its handling of the situation so far – they admitted there are “challenges” but insist the 10-point plan is the solution.
There’s a new unit to pull together intelligence gathering, suspending and revoking permits of those caught, and plans to force fly-tippers to clean-up dumping hot spots, unpaid, for 20 hours.
But they will have a fight on their hands. A senior waste executive told me the organised gangs behind waste crime think the plans are “hilarious”, describing it as the “easiest fraud opportunity ever”.
While Bickershaw residents broadly welcomed the news, some questioned why the dump was allowed to get to the size it did.
Andrew Humphries, who lives in the house closest to the dump said he was “happy it’s being cleared – but also it should never have got to this stage, because now the taxpayers have got to clear it up.”
“The EA knew from day one when the first lorries went in there and now they’re all going to give themselves a pat on the back, ‘oh, we’re going to get it cleaned off’,” he said.
“But you’ve got to ask the question: ‘Why did it get to this?’ The EA want the public to be the ears and eyes to find where this is happening. They were told from day one – and they ignored it.”
Nicha Rowson, who told Sky News in January how her youngest son was forced to move out of their home due to the rats and smells from the dump, said the funding announcement meant “we can be a whole family again”.
“I’m over the moon that there is finally light at the end of the tunnel, my son can finally come home,” she said.
Earlier this week, DEFRA announced plans to create so-called “clean-up squads” – with fly-tippers given conditional cautions by local authorities, making them clear up waste unpaid for up to 20 hours.
It also revealed that EA officers will be given new police-style plans to intervene earlier and seized assets and search premises without a warrant.
Reacting to the announcements, Baroness Sheehan, chair of the House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee, said she welcomed the measures but that the devil is in the detail.
Some people’s homes have been infested by rats
She said: “As our initial inquiry found, the Environment Agency has had sufficient powers in the past to stop the illegal dumping of waste across the country but has failed to use them.
“The apparent additional enforcement powers and budget afforded to them today means it is time for them to step up to the plate.
“The Committee looks forward to questioning Philip Duffy, the chief executive of the Environment Agency, next week about how he plans to deliver effective regulation and enforcement.”
Additional reporting by Niamh Lynch.
