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Fly tipping a ‘plague’ on Worcestershire farmers

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Monday, 27 January 2025 06:19

By Phil Wilkinson Jones - Local Democracy Reporter

Flytipping is a “plague” affecting farmers across Worcestershire, councillors have been told.

The NFU has suggested putting up cameras to catch the culprits but councillors say coverage of the county’s rural lanes would be “practically impossible”.

Emma Hamer, the NFU’s county advisor for Worcestershire spoke to the county council’s economy scrutiny panel on Thursday (January 23).

“Rural crime has a huge impact for farmers and growers,” she said, listing hare coursing, fly tipping, fly grazing, dog attacks on livestock and thefts of large machinery.

“I do work closely with West Mercia Police and the rural crime team but I would welcome any interventions you could make with the police and crime commissioner to ensure ongoing funding.

“Fly tipping is a plague on many farmers. Often the lorries come out from Birmingham and dump things on farmland. Farmers are then seen to be at fault if they push it onto the verge, and it’s their problem.

“If there was something we could do to invest in cameras to catch the perpetrators, that would be great.”

Cllr Ian Hardiman said it is often difficult to place cameras where they will capture fly tipping in the middle of the countryside.

But he said: “There are already teams whose job is not just to remove the fly tipping but to find the evidence if there is any, such as receipts or

whatever, that might link it back to those perpetrators.

“It’s very much a hot topic in Wyre Forest.”

Cllr Adam Kent said: “I set up a fly tipping website and started funding cameras to deal with this because it’s such an issue in Wythall.

“The difficulty you’ve got is, there are so many rural lanes, to put cameras and cover them all is practically impossible.

“The biggest success we’ve had is raising awareness with the public that if they see something out of the ordinary to flag it and take the details.

“The problem is, because it’s been decriminalised you can’t phone the police. So invariably they’re not doing it during council opening hours – they’re doing it at 3am. It’s a massive challenge.

“I do think there’s an opportunity when there’s a single council, if that’s what we end up with, to have a much more targeted approach across the county as a whole.”

On its website, Worcestershire County Council says fly-tipping is a serious criminal offence, for which you can be prosecuted.
 

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