Just one fixed penalty notice issued for fly-tipping in a year by neighbouring Tameside council

A Greater Manchester council issued just a single fine for fly-tipping in a year despite more than 4,000 reported dumping incidents.

Oldham council issued well over 400 over the same period.

Data published by the government shows that neighbouring Tameside council handed out the fewest number of fixed penalty notices (FPNs) across the region in the 2021/22 financial year.

During the same time period there had been 4,102 fly-tipping incidents reported by the local authority in the borough.

Tameside council said it had issued one fixed penalty notice, and also prosecuted one person for fly-tipping during that year.

But it added that this increased to 61 FPNs and six prosecutions in 2022/23.

“The coronavirus pandemic impacted the approach we were able to take with regards fly-tipping enforcement in terms of issuing fixed penalty notices,” a council spokesperson said.

“However, in August 2022 we launched the Our Streets Campaign, where we work with residents, businesses and community groups in a proactive, partnership approach to tackle this and other issues to keep the borough clean, green and safe.

“Enforcement against fly tipping is a key priority for the council and a range of pro-active and re-active measures are used to crackdown on fly tippers, including regular days of action focussed on waste enforcement which are proving to be very successful.”

Last year, councils had the power to issue a maximum on the spot fine of £400, but as of July this year, that has been raised to £1,000.

However Tameside council took alternative enforcement action on 1,412 occasions, which can include cautions, stop and search inspections or seizing vehicles.

At the other end of the scale, Manchester council handed out the most total FPNs in 2021/22, with residents being slapped with 1,250 fines.

The city council was followed by Oldham with 448, and Wigan with 210.

The second fewest of the ten town halls to hand out FPNs was Stockport, which took only two fixed penalty notice actions, and Salford council with seven, according to the Department for Education and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).

These FPNs include those issued specifically for fly-tipping, FPNs issued for breaching the household waste duty of care, FPNs for littering issued in conjunction with fly-tipping, and other FPNs issued in relation to fly-tipping.

According to the data, Manchester also saw the highest number of fly-tipping incidents, with 13,999 reported in 2021/22.

Rochdale was second place with 6,241, followed by Salford council with 6,020 incidents.

Bolton had the fewest number of fly-tipping incidents with just 1,184 reported by the council.

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