Calls for £50,000 fly-tipping fines to be enforced

Richard Evans, local democracy reporter

A councillor has called for £50,000 fly-tipping fines to be enforced and claims rogue rubbish collectors are using the A55 corridor to collect and dump waste illegally.

Cllr Chris Evans is calling on Denbighshire Council to be more proactive in searching fly-tipped waste for evidence revealing who the rubbish belonged to so heavy fines can be issued.

And he thinks the council should scrap or reduce recycling charges, offer more flexibility to residents getting rid of waste, and allow greater amounts of rubbish to be dropped at recycling centres to combat fly-tipping.

Dumping rubbish

Cllr Evans claims the A55 is being used as a speedy way for rogue rubbish collectors to travel along the north Wales coast in vans, collecting and dumping rubbish along the way.

Now the Tremeirchion councillor says more needs to be done to stop the countryside being ruined by illegally dumped rubbish.

Cllr Evans says the problem is particularly prevalent around Rhuallt Hill and the Denbigh Moors.

“It is important rubbish goes to the proper place – if people use recycling centres, it goes to the proper place,” he said.

“My concern is times are tough in Denbighshire, and they’ve overspent money, but the whole rigmarole of booking an appointment at the skips (recycling centres) hasn’t changed from Covid times.

“Is that putting people off from taking rubbish to the skip?

“And does that mean people are benefitting from turning up, filling a van full of rubbish, charging £200, and taking it 20 miles down the road and throwing it in a hedge?

“There was a case not far from here where someone paid two dubious-looking chaps in a white transit van.

“They were just taking it and dumping it down the lane. What’s happening is people are using the A55 to travel and dump rubbish.”

Charges

Denbighshire County Council introduced a range of charges in April 2022 for its recycling centres at Ruthin, Denbigh and Rhyl, including extra fees for disposing of household waste.

The charges include rubble, DIY construction waste, soil, wood, asbestos, gas canisters, tyres, roofing felt, guttering, and insulation material.

But Cllr Evans believed charging people only made fly-tipping worse.

“When people use recycling centres, the metal goes to the scrap; the recycling goes to the recycling, and less goes into landfill. When people are fly-tipping, there is brass, glass, chemicals, and it is wrecking animals’ habitat,“ he said.

“It is an eyesore, a disgrace. Residents are disgusted.

“That’s why I’m raising this because of the amount of emails and messages I’ve had, saying what are you doing about this?

“We need lower charges at recycling centres, more flexible booking than having to book online, and we need people to be able to take greater amounts of rubbish to recycling centres.

“People will take down a wall, but they’re only allowed to take three bags of rubble, but they haven’t got the money to pay.”

Cllr Evans added: “What is Denbighshire doing to catch these fly-tippers?

“We’ve got signs up in Denbighshire warning people they will be fined £50,000.

“You would only have to fine one person £50,000, and people would stop.

“I would like Denbighshire to be checking the fly-tipped rubbish and finding out who it belongs to.

“If people pay someone to take their rubbish away, and they aren’t licenced to do so, the person who paid for it to be taken away is responsible.”

Cllr Evans is calling for residents to report fly-tipping to the council’s ‘report it’ site.

Denbighshire County Council was asked for a comment.