Tameside best performing council in North West for taking action over flytipping

Tameside is the best performing council in the north west for investigating and taking enforcement action against flytipping.

Latest figures, published by DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs), show that in 2023/24 Tameside Council issued 236 fixed penalty notices for flytipping – more than anywhere else in the north west.

The council issued 279 fixed penalty notices in total for all waste offences including flytipping, littering and household duty of care – this is the second highest figure in Greater Manchester and the third highest in the North West.

At the same time, flytipping incidents in the borough reduced 34% from 4416 in 2022/23 to 2905 in 2023/24.

Tameside Council has waste enforcement and street cleaning officers out every day investigating and clearing flytipping and also holds regular days of action, as part of its Our Streets campaign to work with the community to help make the borough cleaner and safer.

Tameside Council Executive Member for Environment Services and Neighbourhoods Cllr Laura Boyle said: “These figures reflect our very proactive and robust approach to tackling waste issues and it is clearly making a difference as we are also seeing the number of flytipping incidents reduce.

“However any amount of flytipping is too much – it blights the appearance of our neighbourhoods and costs public funds thousands of pounds a year to clear - and we will continue in our concerted efforts to tackle it and take enforcement action against offenders whenever we find evidence.

“My huge thanks goes for to our hardworking officers who are out there day in day out investigating and clearing flytipping on behalf of  our local community – their dedication and determination to find those responsible and hold them to account is having a really positive impact. Thank you also to all members of the community who work with us to tackle flytipping and clear litter – most people take immense pride, care and shared responsibility for the places where they live.

“Local people and businesses can also play their part by ensuring they always dispose of their waste responsibly and to check the credentials of any third parties they ask to remove their waste for them – always check their waste carrier licence, get a receipt and find out where they are taking the waste to.”

You can check whether a waste carrier is licensed on the Environment Agency website here: Waste Carriers, Brokers and Dealers

For further information on reporting flytipping and useful information to provide to help investigations see www.tameside.gov.uk/flytipping

Pictured: Waste enforcement officers clearing flytipping and checking it for evidence on a recent Our Streets day of action