No fines for fly-tipping have been issued by Bracknell Forest Council in the last three years, despite incidents nearly doubling over that time.
There were 424 incidents in the first three quarters of 2021/22, according to a Freedom of Information Request submitted by The News. Data for quarter four is not yet available.
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The number of cases in 2020/21 was 629, an 80 per cent increase since 2017/18 and the highest number since comparable records began in 2012-13.
Despite this, no fines have been issued since 2018/19.
Out of the 2,555 incidents that have occurred since 2017, a total of just 4 fines have been issued to the perpetrators.
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Assistant Director of Contract Services at Bracknell Forest Council, Damian James, said: “A significant number of investigations are currently being undertaken and a number of files are with the Public Protection Partnership case management unit for progressing through to court.
“The Public Protection Partnership has employed an officer who has been in place since the autumn specifically to tackle envirocrime and fly tipping in the borough.
“Since this time there have been CCTV deployments in hot spots alongside signage, increases in intelligence gathering and ongoing partnership working with the council’s contractors, as well as Thames Valley Police.”
Across England, a record 1.1 million incidents of rubbish dumped on highways and beauty spots were found in 2020-21, up from 980,000 the previous year.
But the number of court fines halved from 2,672 to just 1,313 – with their total value decreasing from £1.2 million to £440,000.
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According to the CLA, which represents rural businesses, the majority of fly-tipping occurs on private land, which the figures do not cover.
Mark Tufnell, president of the CLA, said: “These figures do not tell the full story of this disgraceful behaviour which blights our beautiful countryside.
“Fly-tipping continues to wreck the lives of many of us living and working in the countryside – and significant progress needs to be made to stop it.”
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