A crackdown on the dumping of rubbish and vehicles has seen offenders pay out over £22,000 from more than 100 incidents across Rossendale in less than two years.
Rossendale Council’s Public Protection officers have carried out 177 investigations into fly-tipping and similar offences under Operation Trident, as well as receiving 233 reports of abandoned vehicles. Since May 2021 they have issued 79 Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs), totalling over £9,000.
Offenders taken to magistrates’ court for more severe outbreaks or after failing to pay a penalty notice have been hit in the pocket to the tune of over £13,500 in fines and costs, from 29 cases.
Rossendale Council launched Operation Trident as part of a strategy of delivering a cleaner and greener borough and stepping up enforcement on those who blight the area, with fly–tipping costing the borough an estimated £40,000 per year. A number of high-profile ongoing investigations will be presented to the courts in the near future.
Councillor Jackie Oakes Lead Member for Planning, Licensing and Enforcement said: “Fly-tipping is an increasing problem nationally and is subject to scrutiny across the country.
“Rossendale Council takes these issues very seriously and we will continue to get tough on those individuals who blight our communities in this manner.
“Operation Trident is a three-pronged approach of Education, Enforcement and Removal and is not aimed purely at securing prosecutions. Prosecution is a tool which is used when other formal education fails and residents still continue to dispose of waste unlawfully.”
Rather than being transported in from outside most fly-tipping is actually carried out by people living on the areas where it occurs most, and therefore engagement with these residents is a key priority.
Officers have led a number of campaigns, particularly in Haslingden, speaking to residents on a one-to-one basis and delivering educational leaflets explaining how waste should be disposed of.
Clean-ups of problem alleyways and sites have been arranged, while council staff have also spoken with over 1,200 businesses boroughwide to ensure they can demonstrate that their waste is disposed of correctly rather than dumped or placed in the domestic waste system.
Continued use of both overt and covert CCTV in hotspots continues to provide valuable evidence and has led to a number of ongoing investigations.
Cllr Oakes continued:” Operation Trident has been in place for less than two years and the results in terms of successful prosecutions are good, but ultimately, we want to see a reduction in the instances of fly tipping and similar offences, and that takes much longer to affect.
“So Operation Trident is here to stay for the time being and we will continue to educate and enforce where necessary to ensure we keep our borough cleaner and greener.”
Operation Trident is also adopting a multi-agency partnership approach, including with Lancashire Constabulary on CCTV protocols and the Environment Agency over investigations into large scale waste dumping and illegal waste transfer sites.