New plan to tackle Warwick District's fly-tipping issue

In February The Courier reported that nearly 3,000 cases of fly-tipping had been reported in the district over the last three years but no one had been prosecuted.

Following the article, Warwick District Council said that a review into the fly-tipping enforcement would be taking place.

At the council’s Executive meeting on Wednesday night, three options were put before councillors these were: employing current council staff, sharing a service with another council and using external contractors.

It was highlighted at the meeting that the district has had the largest amount of fly-tipping incidents across the whole of Warwickshire from 2012 to 2016.

The council decided to back option two, which would involve working with Rugby Borough Council.

Andrew Mobbs, leader of Warwick District Council, said: “I would like to acknowledge the passion and work done by people in the community and groups such as SOLAR and Friends of Black Lane. We want to work in partnership with residents.

“Last night we decided that we will operate with Rugby Borough Council enforcement team. We are doing this as it is the quickest option with putting the correct enforcement procedures in place. Officers will be discussing this with Rugby Borough Council and I hope to get a report in September so we can press the button way before Christmas.

“Readers need to understand that we need to have correct procedures and process in any prosecution we follow.

“We want to have successful prosecutions but we have to manage expectations.

“We don’t want to waste the tax payer’s money on a case which isn’t robust and then we end up paying costs.

Kristie Naimo, Labour councillor for south Leamington, said: “The Labour group have been pressing for realistic enforcement action for many years.

“We are pleased that after 18 months of joint hard pressure from residents some action against fly-tipping will take place - however the there is far too much reliance on the community to identifying the problems.”

North Leamington Cllr Stef Parkins (Labour) said residents groups across the district need more support, adding: “We hope this is the start of a long-term commitment to control this blight across the district with a measurable effect.”