2 weeks Ago
Bolton saw a surge in fly-tipping last year with more than 7,000 incidents reported – the most in more than a decade. Nearly 4,000 of these were on highways and in back alleyways in the 12 months up to last March, according to the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). The council investigated 1,468 of the 7,114 incidents reported to the local authority in that time and issued 211 fines.
Cllr Nadim Muslim, Conservative opposition spokesperson for the environment and climate change, said: “Bolton has the second highest amount of reported fly-tipping incidents in Greater Manchester, but only 21 per cent of those are being investigated. “ Fly-tipping is a manmade issue. The closer you get to the town centre, the worse it tends to be.
“It’s not just fly-tipping, it’s also litter. If the area people live in is constantly untidy, they won’t see a point in doing their bit. “Bolton also has the second most back alley illegal dumping in Greater Manchester with over 3,000 instances, according to Defra.
It shows how serious an issue it is. “We have a lot more terraced housing which creates more back alleys, particularly around the town centre. “There’s a view that the council will come and clean up the illegal waste [so] they keep doing it.
“Many people think they’re doing the right thing by getting a private [waste removal service to] take away their rubbish, but unfortunately those services often [don’t have a waste carrier licence] – and decide to fly-tip it.” Cllr Muslim labelled the 211 fines issued "hardly significant". He said: “All the other local authorities records instances of fly-tipping [then sent to Defra], only Bolton bases their data on the public reporting fly-tipping to them.
“It makes me wonder how many more incidents aren’t being reflected in the data. “I’d like to see more enforcement. “We know the areas that have prevalent fly-tipping .
We should use CCTV cameras to keep those areas clear and if people fly-tip we should prosecute them.” Clean up groups have reported scores of illegal dumping incidents, even in places well outside town centre hotspots like Horwich. Charlene Bessell , founder of Horwich Cleanup Brigade, said she has reported “hundreds” in a particularly “bad” area for back street fly-tipping called Railway Terraces .
She said: “Sometimes if it’s not on Bolton Council’s schedule, the illegally dumped rubbish can sit there six weeks to two months before it’s removed. “That encourages other people to put their bags next to it. “We’ve provided the council with hundreds of [pieces of] evidence from fly-tips.
They haven’t followed through. Fly-tipped rubbish on a Railway Terraces street four days apart (Image: Public) “I’ve been in talks with the enforcement officer for Horwich and we got nowhere. "We spoke about getting a CCTV camera put up in Railway Terraces and were told it could get stolen.
“We asked for bollards and the enforcement officer kept saying she hadn’t heard anything about it when I would follow up.” Charlene said that Horwich Cleanup Brigade has often had to clean up fly-tipped rubbish in Railway Terraces themselves. She said: “It’s not a shock that there are 7,114 incidents across the borough.
“There is also fly-tipping that doesn’t get reported but gets cleaned up by litter-picking groups like us. “Volunteer groups are being relied upon to cover these services. It’s not our job to remove fly-tipped rubbish.
It’s the council’s. “We are active in the Horwich area and litter pick every weekend, but we’ve now stopped cleaning up fly-tipping in the Railway Terraces area and only report it.” Karen Liptrot, co-founder of Bolton Borough Litter Pickers, has had better luck with the council investigating and dealing with fly-tipping in her area.
She said: “I spend a lot of time litter-picking with volunteers in the south of the borough and work closely with the senior enforcement officer from that area. “He does action the evidence sent into him. I get feedback on a regular basis sent over from fly-tips he’s been able to enforce.
"We find that the places with the [heaviest littering and fly-tipping] are just outside the town centre. "As you move further out, you’ll find the areas aren’t as littered. "When it comes to the 7,114 fly-tipping incidents, we need to remember that a large number of reports are duplicated.
"Several people often report the same instance of illegal dumping to the council. If it’s not been cleared within a week, the person who originally flagged it might report it again. "And when the enforcement team investigate fly-tipping, there isn’t always evidence for them to action and prosecute it.
" Bolton Borough Litter Pickers has teamed up with the council to address this problem - and seen good results. She said: “I’ve planned several clean-up events in heavily fly-tipped areas with our volunteers and Bolton Council. “On these action days, councillors have distributed letters saying we were coming to clean up the area and that illegal dumping has to stop as it’s a criminal offence.
“After these, we’ve seen less fly-tipping and an improvement in behaviour. “Where we’re all working together to improve these areas. "It’s about educating people that dropping litter is a fineable offence and not OK to do.
” A council spokesperson said: "Like many other local authorities, fly-tipping and littering are issues that blight some areas our borough, negatively impacting the lives of residents and business owners as well as costing the council to clear up the mess. “Fly-tipping is anti-social behaviour, which shows a complete disregard for the local area and its people. “We have invested funds into the removal of fly-tipping from unadopted streets as well as two additional environmental enforcement officer posts.
“The free collection of bulky waste is a new service that will start in the summer. “We have made a £300,000 investment into neighbourhood services for the removal of fly-tipping and cleaning up of hot spot areas, along with the £25,000 investment into Bolton Green Umbrella to assist all of our volunteers in the borough. “From an enforcement perspective, we issue fixed penalty notices where we can trace those responsible and for the most severe cases, offenders are taken to court.
“We inspect and remove fly-tips on council-owned land as part of the scheduled street cleaning programme and in response to reports from residents. “Residents are therefore encouraged to continue reporting incidents of fly-tipping on council land via our website. “We inspect and investigate fly-tipping on private land from an enforcement perspective.
Land owners are responsible for the clean up.".
