How bad is fly-tipping near YOU?

Over the course of a year, taxpayers have paid a staggering £10.7 million to clean up illegally dumped waste, according to figures from the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

During the 2021/2 financial year, local councils responded to more than one million illegal dumping incidents, with more than 400,000 reported across London.

The figures show that among the hundreds of thousands of illegal dumping cases, there were more than 3,000 cases of illegally dumped asbestos.

Asbestos was commonly used as a fire retardant or roofing material before it was linked to causing chronic lung disease – it continues to be torn from older buildings and is intended to be disposed of carefully and within the law.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has vowed to crack down on illegal dumping as part of his effort to reduce the problems caused by anti-social behavior as part of his agenda to raise levels.

Part of the plan to eradicate illegal dumping is to double the current maximum fine to £1,000. There are also proposals to force miscreants to clean the area within 48 hours of the breach or further action will be taken.

The London Borough of Hackney was unable to provide information on the magnitude of the illegal dumping problem for the past fiscal year as their computer system was crippled by a major cyber-attack.

Interestingly, the City of London had the highest number of illegal dumping incidents per capita per capita during the 2021-2022 financial year.

Not all illegal dumping during that period required taxpayers to fund its disposal, especially if the waste was dumped on private land or private roads – although the event may have been recorded in the local government’s database.

HOW TO USE THE INTERACTIVE MAP: Scroll the map and click on a garbage bag to see the extent of the illegal dumping problem in your area.

Residents of the Square Mile had one illegal dumping incident for every 290 people living in the area – although with about 9,000 people living in the area, this figure is somewhat biased by the low population.

This compares to the Isles of Scilly, where no cases of illegal dumping were reported during the year.

In Oadby and Wigston, on the southern outskirts of Leicester and with a population of some 56,000, there were only 14 cases of illegal dumping.

Ryedale, a rural area among the North Yorkshire Moors, has also seen few problems with illegal dumping, according to official figures released by Defra.

They have an incidence of one incident per thousand inhabitants. That was the lack of a problem, the local authority spent £472 cleaning up the mess.

The London Borough of Newham spent £702,000 on cleaning up more than 25,000 incidents, according to the records.

Birmingham City Council taxpayers were relieved of £549,000.

The London Borough of Croydon, which is going bankrupt, spent £390,000 cleaning up 26,600 incidents.

In the north east, South Tyneside, Sunderland, Gateshead and Hartlepool spent around £1m clearing up illegally dumped rubbish.

In the North West, Liverpool and Wirral residents, more than £500,000 was spent on the removal of dumped rubbish.

Last week, Mr Sunak released a 41-page document outlining measures to tackle illegal dumping and illegal dumping.

It was part of a package of reforms that will see faster judicial action and more police tried in areas of England and Wales believed to be high in low crime.

The plan, announced by the Prime Minister during a visit to Essex on Monday, also includes a ban on the sale of nitrous oxide against the advice of official government advisers.

Mr Sunak, stressing the importance of ‘strong communities built on values’, said anti-social behavior ‘is not the type of country we are and that’s why it’s important we do something about it’.

He told the audience, “We are going to ban nitrous oxide. And we’re also going to expand the power of the police to do drug testing on arrest for many more crimes and many more drugs and to deal with the scourge of drugs.”

Apart from the health consequences for users of so-called ‘hippie crack’, the discarded jerry cans, once inhaled, are often left on the street.

After last year’s Notting Hill Carnival, cleanup crews filled an entire container with jerry cans of potentially explosive Dutch ‘Fast Gas’, among the 300 tonnes of rubbish collected on the streets of North London.

Current legislation already prohibits the knowing or reckless administration of nitrous oxide for inhalation.

But the government plans to make it a class C drug, according to its anti-social behavior action plan, which could see users facing up to two years in prison and unlimited fines.

Ministers hope to ban nitrous oxide before the end of the year.

Under the plan, drug testing of criminals will become more common, on-the-spot fines for graffiti and illegal dumping will be increased, and more money will be plowed into youth centers as part of an effort to stamp out behaviors that are marring British neighbourhoods.

So-called immediate justice proposals will aim to get perpetrators behind antisocial activities to carry out repair and cleanup work within 48 hours of being issued community orders.

Offenders will be forced to wear hi-vis vests or jumpsuits and work under supervision as they clear litter, remove graffiti and wash police cars as punishment for their actions.

Victims of antisocial behavior will have a say in how criminals are punished to ensure justice is visible and appropriate to the crime, the Department for Leveling Up, Housing and Communities said.

In what is called Hotspot Policing, some areas will try to enforce police patrols.

Other measures include:

• A reporting tool for the public to log anti-social behavior and receive updates on any action taken to address it.
• Increased fines for graffiti and litter, rising to £500, and up to £1,000 for illegal dumping.
• Landlords and housing associations will be given more powers to evict unruly tenants who make persistent noise.
• Reopening empty stores by giving municipalities new powers to quickly take control and sell vacant buildings.
• Setting up an anti-social behavior task force jointly led by the Home Secretary and Leveling Up Secretary.