Agenda item

This Council is concerned by recent reports from DEFRA suggesting that since 2012 fly-tipping incidents nationally and in Leeds have risen at an alarming rate.

This Council believes that a major contributing factor to this problem is the insistence by the ruling administration in Leeds that residents should not only pay extra Council Tax but also have to pay for disposal of inert and bulky waste.

Whilst the most recent figures show a reduction in fly-tipping incidents from a peak in 2018/19, the total number remains high compared to other Local Authorities. Analysis of the DEFRA statistics shows that in 2012/13, well before charges for inert waste were introduced, fly-tipping incidents in Leeds stood at 2,977. The latest data for 2019/20 shows this has risen 776% to 26,079 incidents, while fly-tipping on Council land has risen 699% over the same period.  Where Leeds comes in the rankings in the years between 2017/18 and 2019/20 is also cause for concern: Leeds has ranked 1^st, 1^st and 3^rd in the DEFRA numbers for the highest number by Local Authority of total fly-tipping incidents, and 1^st, 1^st and 2^nd for the number of incidents on Council land. 

Of further concern, is the almost halving of prosecutions over the same period, from 15 in 2012/13 to just 8 in 2019/20, representing 0.03% of all fly-tipping incidents in Leeds for the year.

This Council believes that the ruling administration has presided over a fly-tipping crisis in this city, a crisis that affects inner city areas to a greater extent and a crisis that needs to be urgently addressed.

As a starting point, this Council calls for an immediate end to charging for bulky and inert waste in Leeds and for a report to be brought to Executive Board at the earliest opportunity setting out a zero-tolerance approach to how fly-tipping can be tackled in our city and offenders brought before the courts.

It was moved by Councillor Amanda Carter, seconded by Councillor Taylor that 

this Council is concerned by recent reports from DEFRA suggesting that since 2012 fly-tipping incidents nationally and in Leeds have risen at an alarming rate.

This Council believes that a major contributing factor to this problem is the insistence by the ruling administration in Leeds that residents should not only pay extra Council Tax but also have to pay for disposal of inert and bulky waste.

Whilst the most recent figures show a reduction in fly-tipping incidents from a peak in 2018/19, the total number remains high compared to other Local Authorities. Analysis of the DEFRA statistics shows that in 2012/13, well before charges for inert waste were introduced, fly-tipping incidents in Leeds stood at 2,977. The latest data for 2019/20 shows this has risen 776% to 26,079 incidents, while fly-tipping on Council land has risen 699% over the same period.  Where Leeds comes in the rankings in the years between 2017/18 and 2019/20 is also cause for concern: Leeds has ranked 1^st, 1^st and 3^rd in the DEFRA numbers for the highest number by Local Authority of total fly-tipping incidents, and 1^st, 1^st and 2^nd for the number of incidents on Council land. 

Of further concern, is the almost halving of prosecutions over the same period, from 15 in 2012/13 to just 8 in 2019/20, representing 0.03% of all fly-tipping incidents in Leeds for the year.

This Council believes that the ruling administration has presided over a fly-tipping crisis in this city, a crisis that affects inner city areas to a greater extent and a crisis that needs to be urgently addressed.

As a starting point, this Council calls for an immediate end to charging for bulky and inert waste in Leeds and for a report to be brought to Executive Board at the earliest opportunity setting out a zero-tolerance approach to how fly-tipping can be tackled in our city and offenders brought before the courts.

An amendment was moved by Councillor Rafique, seconded by Councillor Ragan

 Delete All after “This Council” and replace with:

““does not tolerate any form of waste crime and calls for all perpetrators to be pursued with legal action.

“Council thanks all workers in Environmental Services for ensuring waste collections and street cleaning in Leeds have continued during the pandemic, despite the significant impact of shielding and self-isolation on workers in the service.

“Council notes that recorded fly-tipping incidents have increased nationally by 36.5% since 2012/13 and continued to increase last year.

“Council notes that despite the continuing increases nationally, fly-tipping in Leeds has reduced since April 2019.

“Council calls on the Government to increase funding for councils to enable more enforcement against waste crime and calls for a report to be brought to Executive Board at the earliest opportunity to set out the council’s zero tolerance approach to tackling waste crime.”

A second amendment was moved by Councillor Golton, seconded by Councillor Campbell

In the final paragraph, insert the following after “at the earliest opportunity”

“to understand the financial pressure on the city’s Environmental Services as a result of responding to increasing flytipping, and the impact of departmental cuts to staffing on undermining effective enforcement action, with the intention of”

The motion would then read:

This Council is concerned by recent reports from DEFRA suggesting that since 2012 fly-tipping incidents nationally and in Leeds have risen at an alarming rate.

This Council believes that a major contributing factor to this problem is the insistence by the ruling administration in Leeds that residents should not only pay extra Council Tax but also have to pay for disposal of inert and bulky waste.

Whilst the most recent figures show a reduction in fly-tipping incidents from a peak in 2018/19, the total number remains high compared to other Local Authorities. Analysis of the DEFRA statistics shows that in 2012/13, well before charges for inert waste were introduced, fly-tipping incidents in Leeds stood at 2,977. The latest data for 2019/20 shows this has risen 776% to 26,079 incidents, while fly-tipping on Council land has risen 699% over the same period.  Where Leeds comes in the rankings in the years between 2017/18 and 2019/20 is also cause for concern: Leeds has ranked 1^st, 1^st and 3^rd in the DEFRA numbers for the highest number by Local Authority of total fly-tipping incidents, and 1^st, 1^st and 2^nd for the number of incidents on Council land. 

Of further concern, is the almost halving of prosecutions over the same period, from 15 in 2012/13 to just 8 in 2019/20, representing 0.03% of all fly-tipping incidents in Leeds for the year.

This Council believes that the ruling administration has presided over a fly-tipping crisis in this city, a crisis that affects inner city areas to a greater extent and a crisis that needs to be urgently addressed.

As a starting point, this Council calls for an immediate end to charging for bulky and inert waste in Leeds and for a report to be brought to Executive Board at the earliest opportunity to understand the financial pressure on the city’s Environmental Services as a result of responding to increasing flytipping, and the impact of departmental cuts to staffing on undermining effective enforcement action, with the intention of setting out a zero-tolerance approach to how fly-tipping can be tackled in our city and offenders brought before the courts.

The amendment in the name of Councillor Golton was declared lost, the amendment in the name of Councillor Rafique was declared carried and upon being put to the vote it was

RESOLVED – That this Council does not tolerate any form of waste crime and calls for all perpetrators to be pursued with legal action.

Council thanks all workers in Environmental Services for ensuring waste collections and street cleaning in Leeds have continued during the pandemic, despite the significant impact of shielding and self-isolation on workers in the service.

Council notes that recorded fly-tipping incidents have increased nationally by 36.5% since 2012/13 and continued to increase last year.

Council notes that despite the continuing increases nationally, fly-tipping in Leeds has reduced since April 2019.

Council calls on the Government to increase funding for councils to enable more enforcement against waste crime and calls for a report to be brought to Executive Board at the earliest opportunity to set out the council’s zero tolerance approach to tackling waste crime.