How bad is fly-tipping near YOU? trends now
Taxpayers have footed a staggering £10.7million bill to clean-up illegally dumped waste over the course of a single year, according to figures released by the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
During the financial year 2021/2, local councils responded to more than one million fly-tipping incidents, with more than 400,000 reported across London.
The figures show that among the hundreds of thousands of fly-tipping incidents there were more than 3,000 cases of asbestos being illegally dumped.
Asbestos was commonly used as a fire retardant or a roofing material before it was linked to causing chronic lung disease - it continues to be torn out of older buildings, and is meant to be disposed of carefully, and within the law.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has vowed to clamp down on fly-tipping as part of his attempt to reduce the problems caused by anti-social behaviour as part of his levelling-up agenda.
Part of the plan to eradicate fly-tipping is to double the current maximum fine to £1,000. There are also proposals to force miscreants to clean up the area within 48 hours of the offence or face further action.
The London Borough of Hackney was unable to supply information over the past fiscal year on the size of its illegal dumping problem as their computer system was paralysed by a major cyber attack.
Interestingly, per head of population, during the financial year 2021-2022 the City of London had the greatest number of fly-tipping incidents per head of population.
Not all of the illegal dumping over that period has required taxpayers to fund its removal, especially if the waste was deposited on private land or private roadways - although the event may have been recorded in the local authority database.
HOW TO USE THE INTERACTIVE MAP: Scroll around the map and click on a rubbish bag to see the extent of the fly-tipping problem in your local neighbourhood.
Residents within the Square Mile had one illegal dumping incident for every 290 people living in the area - although with approximately 9,000 people living in the area, this figure is skewed slightly by the low population.
This compares with the Isles of Scilly, which reported no cases of Illegal dumping during the year.
Oadby and Wigston, which is on the southern outskirts of Leicester, and has a population of some 56,000 people, had just 14 cases of illegal dumping.
Ryedale, a rural area among the North Yorkshire Moors has also seen little issue with fly-tipping, according to official figures released by Defra.
They have a rate of one incident per one thousand population. Such was the lack of a problem, the local authority spent £472 cleaning up the mess.
Local authorities have spent more than £10m in the past year cleaning up illegally dumped waste
Councils have reported masses of domestic, commercial and even industrial waste dumped across the country
Slough reported more than 1,600 cases of illegal dumping in the financial year 2021/2
The London Borough of Newham spent £702,000 clearing up more than 25,000 incidents, according to the data.
Birmingham council tax payers wererelieved of £549,000.
The London Borough of
