Bill seeks to tackle 'grossly unfair' impact of fly-tipping

Conservative MP for Essex North, Bernard Jenkin, said his Bill would amend Part II of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. He said the move was prompted by the case of a farmer who had asbestos waste dumped on his land and was then forced to pay nearly £3,000 to have it removed.

Neither Essex police or the Environment Agency (EA) took any "substantial interest" in the crime, he told the Commons, yet the farmer would have been in violation of the law if he had allowed the waste to remain on his land.

"Under the law as it stands responsible victims of this crime are forced to pay up while the perpetrators get off scot free," he claimed. "This is grossly unfair on private landowners for whom being a victim of a crime turns them into a criminal under the law."

Citing other cases where landowners had faced substantial costs to clear up illegally dumped rubbish, Mr Jenkin said his Environment Protection Act 1990 (Amendment) Bill would place an obligation on the EA or the relevant local authority to remove waste if the landowner did not "knowingly cause or permit" it to be dumped.

The Bill, which has the backing of Tory former Environment Secretary John Gummer as well as Tory former environment minister Tim Yeo and Labour former environment minister Michael Meacher, would also place a duty on councils to investigate incidents of fly tipping.

"The present law is clearly absurd," Mr Jenkin told the Commons. "What's the point of having a criminal offence on the statute book against fly-tipping if no one is going to investigate these crimes."

'Potentially dangerous'

Mr Jenkin highlighted an Environment Agency survey published in January 2007 which revealed that 16% of farms in England and Wales had suffered fly-tipping over a 12-month period.

However, the issue did not only affect farmers, with Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust having recently announced it was considering closing its woodlands because of fly-tipping, he said.

The MP for Essex North went on to say that the removal of such waste was not only expensive but time-consuming and potentially dangerous.

"A farm worker in Nottingham was injured when an aerosol can exploded as he tried to burn the timber element of some waste, and he was off work for three months as a result of his injuries," he said.

"At present, landowners feel helpless, so it is not surprising that 50% of those who are suffering from fly-tipping do not bother to report it. Why should they, if it does not lead to a proper investigation of the incident or any prospect of a prosecution?

"In a 2006 survey, farmers said that in only 22% of cases had the police investigated their complaints, even though fly-tipping is a criminal offence."

The Environment Protection Act 1990 (Amendment) Bill will be given a second reading in the Commons next month.